Persona 3: Rising
by Hoshiro 217
Summary: Add ten years of battle experience and a few twists of fate and you get two overpowered protagonists: Minato and Hamuko. But will their strength and the changes in their world give them the edge they need to overturn their once cruel, destinies? (Rewrite of Persona 3: Never To Leave)
1. The Flutter Of The Butterfly's Wings

You know those ordinary nights? Yeah, they happen all the time. You wouldn't even give a second thought about one of these so called 'ordinary nights', and you'd pretty much forget about them in some few weeks. Yeah, there's more waffling. I kinda do this a lot, so don't worry. If you don't like waffling, then be thankful that I'm only talking through these few bits.

This one tale has been retold so many damn times it's almost criminal, but I'm wishing to put a sorta… special spin on all this. Hopefully things don't come off as too familiar. If you know this story, then please sit back and enjoy my commentary over this little bit. For those who know this story better, then watch out for the changes all over this story. It's got its handprints all over it, not joking. Welp, onwards.

But like I said. Ordinary nights.

Let me put it in perspective. It's one of those nights where people are bustling about with their daily lives, the lights are all shining brightly in the city, and if you could look over the area you would be greeted by what was possibly one of the most breath-taking sights. The blinking lights were probably people who were going to sleep or they could be the traffic lights that were keeping everything in order. If you were that observant maybe you could see people going about on some trips such as; your usual dates and going out for dinner. Things like that.

However, when you looked up into the sky you really couldn't see anything in the inky blackness that was the dark of night. The lights from the city would be too bright, which meant you wouldn't be able to see the pin pricks of light that were stars. If you could they were few in number, and very far between.

The drone of car motors were almost a given in any really urban city, and this one was no exception. The vehicles were zipping or… not so zipping along the bridge that led into city. And I say 'not so' because of traffic. But why am I telling you things that you guys probably already know?

Well, there was one particular family, out on an ordinary night that was driving back to their home on the bridge. It was all happy and jolly in the ride. The parents- or more the mum than anyone else since it really would have been dangerous if it was the dad talking -were happily replying to some of the reactions that their two kids had. I mean seriously, he was the person driving. He'd need some concentration, lest they land in a car accident.

But anyways, the kids. One kid was called Minato. The other was called Hamuko. They were probably the cutest buttons that anyone would ever see. Minato was the older brother, and Hamuko was the younger sister. Their ages were separated by a year.

Cliché, but I'm gonna describe them now. Minato had blue hair- dark blue hair mind you -that bordered on black. It was a bit atypical for anyone to have dark blue hair that was actually natural, but it was still kinda slight. Anyways, his hair was set up with bangs, one of them covering his right eye. Only lord knew how he was able to see perfectly with that haircut but, just… rolling with it. Speaking of seeing and eyes, his eyes were actually silver. If you didn't know him well enough, you would probably say he looked really melancholy with that stagnant gaze of his and his hair. Oh, how wrong you are. He was probably the biggest bundle of fun that you could find in a normal eight year old kid. Okay, I'm exaggerating. But he definitely wasn't some depressed kid or any of that crap.

Now, his younger sibling, Hamuko… If Minato was happy, then Hamuko was an explosion of cheeriness. And like a firework, everyone couldn't help but just smile back at her with a smile just as sunny as hers. When you hung out with her, it was pretty much impossible to ever feel sad. She had auburn hair which she normally kept in a ponytail and ruby-like irises that seemed to stare into your soul, as if she knew every secret about you. Not that she did, but it kinda seemed like it.

Anyways, like I said. This story starts right about…

Now.

"Well, my favourite part was probably when… when… um, you know when he was leading her back to the surface and stuff," Minato gushed. "It was so awesome and epic and…"

Minato continued his tirade about how awesome the movie they had just watched was. Every single detail that an eight year old could possibly grasp was commented on, and no stone was left unturned. What was unknown in the vehicle was why both Hamuko and Minato were so happy to have seen that movie. The parents- while they did like it –only liked it. They didn't love those scenes as much as their children.

And if Minato was hysterical over the whole thing, Hamuko was way ahead. She had been furiously agreeing to every single compliment that Minato could ever think of. And there was a whole abundance of the things. People who weren't already used to this (the parents had finally waved it off as a usual thing) probably would have thought that Minato had kept a box with pieces of paper that had on it all the things that he was saying. In that case, the box that he was keeping that paper was probably really big.

"Come on, are you sure you kids shouldn't be getting some sleep? You still do have school tomorrow," their mother, Kizuna Arisato finally chimed in. She might have been patient, but she had been listening to the two of them go on and on from the time that the movie had finished. Which was some thirty minutes ago. If that was how Kizuna felt, people could only wonder how Makoto Arisato was feeling.

Speaking of, Makoto was not a particularly patient man. If he had been allowed the chance, he probably would have told Minato and Hamuko to stop talking and just go to sleep. But despite that, he tried to keep himself a stiff upper lip and his steadily boiling up phrases inside; where they should be. However this was only because he knew that Kizuna would get tired of it sometime as well.

"Aw, but kaa-san…" Minato said with a disheartened tone. He was pretty bright, but still. School wasn't that fun. And to think he had to go to that place six times out of the days of the week. Now that… that was depressing. And with sadness came a wave of sleepiness. Darn! He had wanted to stay up a bit longer and talk about that movie for longer.

Hamuko had an almost disbelieving face when kaa-san said that but she eventually settled down. "Oh…" she sighed, before deciding to lean her head on Minato's shoulder.

"Why is sleep contagious…?" he moaned before leaning his head onto the seat.

Kizuna and Makoto simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief before they kept on driving, also taking note that it was getting really late. In fact, it was just a few minutes before midnight.

Nary a few minutes had passed before Minato and Hamuko began to sleep and Makoto had noticed how late it was. However, this would all be stopped at this one moment.

In what seemed to just be a split second, a sense of dread washed over the Arisato family, time felt like it had stopped her courses, the scent of old iron was stinging their senses and it felt like they were trapped in a place completely different.

"Kaa-san… what's happened?" Minato asked urgently as he was jolted awake by that near suffocating terror and the fact that the car was no longer moving, almost as if he couldn't breathe. He looked around at Hamuko and she seemed to be shivering from the fear that was festering within her innocent heart.

Minato leaned forward in order to get a good look at Kizuna, however to his horror she wasn't there. Both Makoto and Kizuna's forms were replaced by pitch black coffins. "What… what's happening…?" he managed to get out, trying to swallow his trembles back into his throat.

"Otou-san?" Hamuko said weakly, as she too tried to get a good look at Makoto. "Tou-san!?" she shrieked, not understanding how her dad had suddenly been replaced by some huge coffin. "M-Minato-nii… what's happening…?"

"I… I don't know…" he replied, though that only seemed to make Hamuko's expression even more pleading. "But… I'm sure everything will turn back to normal…" he sighed, still biting his lip. Right now, he was in a sense of denial, even though he knew that what he was seeing probably wasn't just some messed up dream. Something was wrong, and everything just seemed so different. He wanted to know what was going on, and somehow turn kaa-san and tou-san back to normal. This was going to turn out alright… Or so he thought. Well, he was hoping for the best. If no-one was going to help them, then he would have to be strong. For Hamuko. Maybe this wouldn't turn out so bad. "It'll be okay," he reassured, putting on a small albeit broken smile.

Hamuko nodded dumbly. At this point, all she could do was trust her onii-san. "I…okay," she finally sighed, opening the door. For some reason, kaa-san and tou-san turned into coffins, and the sounds of motors that had been so familiar had just completely stopped. That's why she felt it would be okay to go out. It was still dangerous, but curiosity and urgency was fuelling their actions right now.

"What happened to the sky…?" Hamuko whimpered, trying to stay close to Minato who was also shaking a little. Only someone who was used to this could possibly stay cool under this foreboding and heavy atmosphere, which Minato and Hamuko were not. "It's all green…"

The sky was a sickening green, much like the same hue that had been cast over the bridge. If there was anything that came to mind when the two siblings saw what had happened to the usual blue and black that made up the colours of their evening for the most part, it was that this time was wholly unnatural. Not in the usual way of things being man-made either. Just… as if it was a mistake. A lurching feeling was lingering in their stomachs as they both looked around through the almost murky air, whether it was from the differing atmosphere or the presence of something else entirely.

"I don't know…" Minato mumbled. "The moon's really big too," he began holding on tight to Hamuko's hand at this point. He might've been the older of the two siblings, but he was just as scared as Hamuko now. The only difference was that he was trying to stay a little stronger for Hamuko. He did his best to anyways.

The moon took up more of the sky than it did before, and it looked pretty much impossible that it was that large. Right before this change had occurred, the moon was just as normal as it ever was: milky white, and probably just about marble-sized from the bridge. But now, that same moon was covered in yellow, almost with age. Not to mention, it was now more of a cloudy crystal ball than a measly marble. It was almost like it was a completely different moon to the one that they knew.

After looking up at the sky they averted their eyes to the ground, especially when Hamuko yelped as she stepped in something wet. "Onii-san… isn't that blood?" she gasped. But she never took a bigger breath than that after she did, not wanting to breathe in the pungent iron-like air. It was almost as if she was trying to avoid taking in a contaminated atmosphere.

Minato gulped. "I… I hope not," he said quietly. He bit his lip and turned to Hamuko, who was quaking. He had felt it before, but it was a lot more apparent now. He couldn't blame her for it either. He was terrified too. But all the same, he squeezed his grip around Hamuko's hand tighter, trying to reassure her further.

Hamuko knew that Minato was trying his best not to show that he was scared. She could feel his slight trembling as well. But just because he was older, she wasn't going to be the typical scared younger sibling either. She tried to calm herself down, and eventually the shaking settled down, ever so slightly. This was mostly because she was trying to tell herself that everything would return to normal after a while. It was working for a little bit, but that reassurance that she had built up for herself had shattered as she felt something absolutely frightening from behind her.

Neither Minato nor Hamuko even had to see whatever was behind them to know that it was there. It had that much of a presence in their minds.

It was only then that Minato dared to ever turn around to see what it was, and once he did… he immediately wanted to start running. Yet, that frightening thing that had just appeared was so overwhelming, that every bit of the two's bodies was frozen stiff. The only things that did keep moving were Minato's gaze and the tightening of his hand around Hamuko's.

A horrifying roar filled the air of the bridge, and from Minato's view he knew that it was this monster, whatever it was. A slight whistling of wind came by Hamuko's ear and she immediately thought that it was strange. The air was completely stagnant before, so she didn't know why there was any kind of breeze now. But one thing was for sure and that was the already lurching fear that was starting to rise up, and the one word that was coming to mind: Run.

That thought immediately made her hand in Minato's grip tighten once more, holding on for what seemed like dear life. However…

A howling screech rang out, and it wasn't because that monster was chasing after the two kids. Thankfully. Coupled along with along with those sounds were the rattles of gun fire from a white figure. It at least sounded like gun fire. Neither of them had heard it for real before, so they weren't that sure. Not as sure as they could be.

Despite the appearance of that mysterious white figure somehow Minato and Hamuko didn't feel much safer, especially since the two were actually getting closer to the two siblings, and it was becoming more dangerous by the second. However, Minato and Hamuko had at least calmed down enough to at least be able to move their legs.

They backed away slowly before they started running as fast as their legs could carry them, even almost tripping a few times. Minato and Hamuko just stopped to support each other whenever that happened.

Unfortunately, they were stopped in their tracks as the two siblings heard a 'crash' in the distance. Once Minato and Hamuko turned their heads to see what had happened, they immediately stopped running altogether.

Their car was in flames, and the monster- the black figure they could see –was right on top of it.

"K-Kaa-san? T-Tou-san…?" Minato managed to say, his eyes widening at the situation. They weren't dead! He couldn't possibly believe that his kaa-san and tou-san were actually dead! Impossible!

He saw that some of the other cars had been trashed before, probably by the fight that was happening between that monster and the white figure however he didn't really care about that anymore.

"M-Minato-nii…" Hamuko said quietly, wrapping him in a hug. She too was in shock, but she thought that the both of them needed some kind of comfort right now, even in the face of death.

The black monster from before rose up from the remains of the Arisatos' car and charged once again towards the white figure that had been firing at it before.

Minato clenched his hand tightly in a fist. Minato had been scared before and he still was, but he just saw that monster take away his and Hamuko's parents. His fist was turning white under the intense force that was building up, even starting to shake with anger. "We… we have to run," he said quietly.

"Where?" Hamuko asked feebly as she released her grip, looking straight into Minato's silver eyes as if she was trying to find some sort of answer within that enigmatic gaze of his. In her brother's eyes.

"Just…" Minato sighed and closed his eyes, dropping to his knees. "…I don't know," he mumbled.

Hamuko bit her lip as her mouth threatened to form a frown. Her onii-san was trying really hard to be strong for him and her, but… being strong was hard by himself. Hamuko looked up from her brother to find something terrifying. "Nii-san! We have to run," she pleaded, dropping down to his level, trying to shake him out of his broken state.

"Huh?" he wondered, but his questions were answered when he saw that black monster charging right towards him and Hamuko. With that, he immediately stood up and grabbed a hold on Hamuko's wrist. Minato did his best to try and tug his little sister along, and Hamuko did her best to keep up with her big brother. Needless to say, it was a difficult task to try and outrun that monster.

Not to mention, that white figure from before was coming after it. It looked from the monster to the children, charging up some of its' SP. Inevitably after running so fast, Hamuko tripped and Minato had to stop. "Hamuko!" he shouted, trying to help her up onto her feet. However, the monster was too close now for them to have enough time to get up and start running again.

Minato looked up at the terrifying monster, fear evidently showing in his silver eyes. Tears were starting to well up at the sides of them, and on instinct and on some dull hope he hugged Hamuko as tight as he could to shield her from it. "Minato-nii!" she cried, trying to push him off.

A white light flashed that obscured Hamuko's vision.

What Minato wasn't expecting was that he didn't feel any pain whatsoever. Only something flowing into him, something cold yet… filled to the brim with power. He opened up his scrunched up eyes and turned around to find that the monster was gone. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he also took a good long look at Hamuko. She wasn't hurt at all.

Hamuko was also surprised to see that the monster was gone and her onii-san was alright. There was one thing that that was different though. She too felt this strange power flowing within her, but it was warm; almost unbearably so. That didn't change the fact however, that this strange strength that she could feel was there.

"Y-You're safe," Minato laughed a little, though he was actually hugging Hamuko tighter than ever. "We're safe…" he whispered, finally letting go of Hamuko.

"Yeah…" Hamuko managed to say. She had half a mind to say how much of an idiot he was for putting himself in danger like that, but she held it back. For now, she was just all too glad that everything was alright.

Minato sighed and stood up, helping Hamuko in the process. He gazed around the road on the bridge. Almost every car that was on this road before was destroyed, on fire and in pieces. Minato gritted his teeth and led Hamuko over to their car. If nothing else, it was a little safer.

"What would Orpheus do?" he said to himself quietly as he took in the bleak situation. "What would he do…?"

All the while, Hamuko was looking in through the car windows, desperately hoping that there was something that could be salvaged of their parents. She couldn't see much of what was inside, but she could see the mangled remains of what appeared to be the coffins that their parents were placed in. There really wasn't anything either of them could do…

"So… what are we going to do? What do you want to do?" Hamuko asked Minato with a quiet voice.

"I… I want to get stronger," Minato replied simply, clenching his fist tightly. Hamuko looked to him with a curious expression, silently asking him for the 'why' behind that motivation. "Because…" he wrapped his arms around Hamuko in a hug, though it wasn't as tight as the other ones that he gave her. "I don't want to lose anyone else," Minato finally said.

Hamuko understood the meaning behind the words that Minato had just said, silently and yet so obviously, referring to her and her only. "…I don't want to lose you either," she replied quietly.

"…Yeah," Minato said, a slight smile on his face. If there was anything to have come out of this situation, it was that they were still both alive.

At that exact moment, the night sky had returned to normal and instead of the blood-like smell that filled that strange time, Minato and Hamuko could more clearly smell gasoline and burning metal. It wasn't much of a better smell than before, but at least… the air wasn't silent anymore.

* * *

**AN: ...Goddammit I thought I wasn't going to upload this, but I what did I do? I did anyways. Wonderful... Anyways, THIS is my rewrite of NTL. Don't go read it, since you don't need to. Probably better just to stick with this story, because there are plenty of changes to my first. Many. Changes. Including abolishing pretty much ALL OCs. I'd rather die than include any. Well, at least... no self inserts or anything.**

**I have to write this whole freaking story from SCRATCH. Sometimes, I wonder what I'm doing with my life.**

**Well, for those who liked NTL... you'll like this even better. Call this... CoA. And this time, I swear, I'm going to stick with my pairings.**

**Pairings are LOCKED for Minato X Mitsuru and Hamuko X Shinjiro. Have a complaint? Raise your hand in the review section. I know, people have been saying this a lot... but reviews are like Somas for us writers.**

**Another good thing. I've got this planned out, so not as much writer's block as there could be. There are going to be MANY ties to mythology like the last time, however, this time... it won't be so haphazard. Expect there to be many threats coming after the Arisato siblings because there's going to be chaos, chaos, and Chaos. Hah.**

**Well, sayoonara for now. I have Nanowrimo to work on.**


	2. First Movement

What do you do?

That was the question both siblings were asking each other. All in one night, they had one of the highest highs, and the lowest of all lows that the two of them had ever experienced. They had both just lost the closest family besides each other that they had.

Simply put, they were lost. So lost, not within the city that they roamed. But lost in themselves. Everything just seemed lost.

Nothing. Nothing mattered, except each other.

When they were sent to the orphanage to wait on their other relatives; their lesser known ones that even the two of them didn't even know about, the only things that they were discussing, if you could call it that, were the movie that they watched the night before and their parents.

"Kaa-san… can I play the guitar?" Minato mumbled, staring absent-mindedly around the room.

"M-Minato, kaa-san's gone," Hamuko said sadly and tugged on his shirt, trying to snap him out of his daze.

"Gone where? I guess I'll just have to ask tou-san then," Minato sighed as he stared out the window.

Hamuko again tugged on his shirt, almost trying to force herself to say the words, 'tou-san's gone too.' But she couldn't. As strong as she was trying to be, even she had her limits. And when her only pillar of strength left was just being battered around in the passing winds without a second thought, lost in a stream of memories… she wasn't sure what she could do anymore.

"But… t-tou-san…" Hamuko was coming close to tears. If it wasn't that neither of them could let go that was making her sad, it was the fact that she had to watch her brother tumble and fall into an abyss of insecurity and memories that even he, of all people, didn't want to get out of. He, the other bright light in the family that kept things lively, and made half of their best memories happen; even he couldn't start dealing with his parents' death right now.

"What about tou-san…?" Minato asked quietly as he held his hands up, almost as if he was playing an imaginary guitar, his fingers nimbly moving along to a non-existent beat.

Hamuko could recognise the tune that he was playing, and she could hear it in her own ears. It wasn't even playing, but that just reiterated how well she knew the song. It was one that her brother made up. He played it… a lot. And she couldn't blame him; the song sounded amazing, even if all it had at that time was guitar and his now hollow voice.

Hamuko could hear Minato humming along the melody, and she could imagine the words. But right then, at that moment… it sounded horrible. The words that Hamuko started imagining were so… empty. Minato's voice was so ghostly, and so… devoid of any kind of feelings that usually made his voice so rich.

They were dead. And that made her shiver.

"Minato, don't you remember!?" Hamuko pleaded, looking into his silver eyes. She almost recoiled once she saw that look in his eyes. Usually, when she looked into his eyes, there would be a glint, a kind of light that never left him when he was happy, but now… they just seemed stony cold. All it seemed like was that things were happening around him, but he didn't see them. All he could see were the things that he tried to remember; the false illusions that were scattered and flitted about his vision. The illusions that he could see of his parents.

"They're dead! Don't you remember!?"

…crack.

"No! It's not true!" Minato shouted.

Silence permeated the room, and Hamuko stared back at Minato blankly.

Minato tried to catch his breath, but when he finally looked up again, he realized what he had just done. He was in complete and utter denial. Minato bit his lip and lowered his head in shame. "Hamuko, I… I'm sorry…"

Hamuko nodded and leapt right into Minato's grip, hugging him tightly.

"Just don't leave me… I don't want you to leave me…"

Minato's eyes widened, but steadily he became used to her grip and hugged back. He knew what she meant this time. She didn't mean in the way that she didn't want him to die like all the others; of course she wouldn't want that. No, she couldn't want that at all. That was impossible. No, she was talking about him getting lost in the past. She didn't want a brother that was constantly stuck in his own memories. The brother that Hamuko wanted… no, needed; was one that would stay with her in the present, no matter what happened, and through thick and thin.

"I know… I…" Minato mumbled, feeling Hamuko's tears seep through his shirt. "I'm really sorry…"

The two stayed in relative quiet for what seemed to be the longest time, and by the time night fell, the both of them there completely silent. Even through the time that the two spent in hush, both Hamuko and Minato kept on wishing that they would trade just about everything that they had for even one of their parents back. Children simply weren't meant to be left alone like they were.

They were still wishing that they could see kaa-san's soft smile again, and to hear their dad's words of encouragement whenever they did something right. They needed their parents, and they weren't there. Only the gods knew how the two siblings were able to keep themselves from cracking; at least, more than they already had.

Whenever someone came to check on them, they were together, and they almost completely ignored that someone when they tried to talk to them.

That person wasn't one of their parents.

They didn't want a replacement.

They just wanted them back.

All they had was each other now, and it was a lonely existence. For a few days, it was just the two of them, the two little siblings in a huge and cruel world, and they were trying to do their best not to drown in a sea of despair.

Whenever any of the other kids tried to talk to them even a little bit, the lights in their eyes simply faded, and that scared them. It scared a lot of them. Only two weren't scared.

"Hey, don't they look just like us?" one of them asked the other.

"They kinda do," the other one grumbled.

They never really approached the two silent siblings. They too had seen that look in each other's eyes; it was that while after Miki had died. Akihiko was her older brother, and Shinjiro his best friend.

They knew better than anyone that the most that what the siblings wanted was to be left alone. After a while, they knew that they would bounce back, even if it took the longest amount of days.

It had been a few days already.

"You know… we've been moping for a long while, and all the other kids have been ignoring us," Minato spoke softly to Hamuko. In contrast to how bouncy he was before, he was now more reserved and definitely quieter than he had been before. It was surprising for Hamuko, but she was getting used to it.

"You know, you're right!" Hamuko exclaimed, her eyes finally gaining a bright glint. It was the playful one that she usually had; the one that she had before.

When Minato saw that, he couldn't help but follow suit. "So, wanna go see if anyone will play with us?" he asked with a smile.

There was something still different about how Minato talked though. He was acting more of an older brother than he did before. Before, everyone would have guessed that Hamuko and Minato were actually the same ages. Even though they were actually separated in age by a year. That was how cheerful Minato could be.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Hamuko grabbed Minato's hands and ran out to the yard, passing by several… surprised gazes from other orphans in the halls.

Hamuko didn't seem to be looking where she was looking however, and it was inevitable that sometime… she would bump into someone.

"Ow, watch where you're going…"

A gruff voice said.

Hamuko looked up and saw a certain duo of boys.

"Oh Minato-nii, aren't they the stalker people?"

Minato's eyes widened before he exclaimed, "What do you mean by that!?" He honestly hadn't noticed anyone looking at them before, because… well, everyone seemed to stay away from them. They were kinda scary when they were depressed. "You don't just go around calling some people 'stalker people!" he yelled, his eyebrow twitching as he let go of Hamuko's hand.

"…did she really just call us…?" Shinjiro muttered to Akihiko.

"Stalker people…?" Akihiko finished, also having the same bewildered expression as before. While he was still dense as all heck when it came to some emotions around people, even he knew when a situation was really, really awkward.

Shinjiro looked at Akihiko, and Akihiko looked at Shinjiro.

"Sorry, it's just that… Hamuko gets excited really easily," Minato tried to apologize, but before he could say anymore words…

Shinjiro and Akihiko broke into fits of laughter.

"H-Huh?" Minato stuttered, looking at Hamuko who merely looked as innocent as ever. In fact… she was smiling. It was just about the most mischievous smile that Minato had seen on her before. Then it finally clicked. She totally did it on purpose.

"You're funny," Shinjiro laughed, ruffling her hair.

Which she took offense to.

"Ooh, stop doing that!" Hamuko puffed her cheeks with an indignant expression. But… that only made Shinjiro more amused as he ruffled her hair. "You're messing up my hair!" she complained.

Eventually, she managed to shake Shinjiro off and 'hmphed' in frustration. "Meanie, you didn't stop!" she puffed her cheeks again. It seemed to be something of a habit. She puffed her cheeks up whenever she was irritated at someone. But unfortunately, that kind of action; the one that some animals used to scare off predators with their larger size and puffed up cheeks only served to make Hamuko more adorable. Not the best strategy.

Shinjiro merely chuckled at that. "She's funny," he laughed.

"Oh really?" Akihiko asked.

"Yeah, apparently Hamuko and I were raising hell after mum and dad complimented the two of us," Minato laughed nervously as he related to Akihiko the first time that Minato used a guitar and Hamuko a keyboard.

"Wow, you guys sound really tight together," Akihiko grinned.

"Don't you ignore me too you punk!" Shinjiro growled, confronting Akihiko once again; like he did yesterday. He was about to throw a punch at Akihiko, but Akihiko managed to dodge out of the way.

"Not again Shinji!" Akihiko panicked. The one time that he wasn't expecting Shinjiro's strikes, well… let's just say he didn't feel anything more after the world turned black on him.

"Don't ignore me again then!" Shinjiro growled.

"Geez! You guys fight like a married couple or something!" Hamuko laughed as she pushed between the two of them as Shinjiro tried to hold a staring contest with Akihiko. "Any closer and something bad might happen!"

Meanwhile, Minato was wondering how the heck she knew all the things that she was saying. Or maybe… she already knew about all these kinds of things but she didn't tell him about them! He decided that he would try to get Hamuko back later when he had the opportunity.

"S-Something bad?" Akihiko asked her with a questioning expression. Shinjiro… he was blushing furiously.

"You dense little…!" Shinjiro muttered.

"Hey, swearing free zone!" Minato shouted.

Shinjiro looked to Minato, then to Akihiko, and lastly… at Hamuko. "Tch, fine…" he muttered.

"Anyways, you're really dense, you know that Aki?" Shinjiro sighed, slapping him on the back. It was something that he did often, and because of that, Akihiko had to develop something of immunity to being pushed over. Otherwise, he would've been flat on his face on the floor a lot more than he would've liked to. Shinjiro was strong.

Akihiko looked towards Shinjiro with something of a deadpan before shrugging. "Told ya," Shinjiro muttered, the comment more directed towards Minato and Hamuko than Akihiko.

"…I can tell," Minato sighed.

"…even I can!" Hamuko cheered.

Akihiko looked dumbstruck before saying, "Now I feel really bad."

"You should," Shinjiro grumbled.

The rest of the day was spent talking to Shinjiro and Akihiko for the Arisato siblings. Needless to say, they had a lot of fun discussing how close they were together.

However, Hamuko and Minato's fun was cut short as a caretaker announced that their relatives were there to pick them up.

"Aw, but… Shinji and Aki are really fun to hang out with," Minato complained.

"I know! They're really funny! I still think they're like a married couple though!" Hamuko said proudly.

After some explaining, Minato and Hamuko finally met up with their relatives. Thankfully for the two of them, they were at least kind and it didn't seem that they would have a hard time fitting in with their… admittedly small family. At least, that was what it seemed like.

"So, do you think we might see you guys again?" Minato asked Akihiko and Shinjiro.

"…we might," Akihiko replied with a shrug.

"Who knows? But we can only see, right?" Shinjiro laughed, casting a knowing look towards Minato and Hamuko.

"Right," Minato nodded, fist-bumping both Shinjiro and Akihiko, one at a time. It was hard not to get knocked over by Shinjiro when they finally bumped.

"Yup! We'll be like a happy family, with Shinji-kun and Aki-kun as the mother and father," Hamuko said with a sing song voice, holding her hands and fingers together in a heart-like shape. She seemed to know exactly how to set both of them off. If Akihiko didn't react, Shinjiro would, they would almost start to fight, Minato would intervene, they'd both look ashamed, and they'd obey her commands.

…Hamuko was a lot smarter than people gave her credit for.

Shinjiro had just about half a mind to growl back that it wasn't true, but he stopped himself. He'd get her back for what she teased the two of them about later.

"…right," Shinjiro said sarcastically.

"Yeah. Now get out of here, before they leave without you," Akihiko joked, pushing Minato and Hamuko out the gates.

"Hope we'll see you both again Aki, Shinji!" Minato and Hamuko said in unison.

Without another word, the two skipped to their newer family, into an unfamiliar world; the one world where there would be nothing but mysteries, strength, and no-one else but Minato and Hamuko. It was just the two of them, against the cruel and harsh world again.

* * *

**AN: Just another chapter to get this story moving in a little more direction. And even though I had planned this all out, once again I deviate from my plan. But I have a good feeling about this change, and NO-ONE will know what I just did... Hahaha...**

**Anyways, thoughts, reviews, box, write. I think you guys know what to do.**

**Welp, sayoonara for now, I... I have Days of Darkness to light up. (yeah, I just went there.)**

**And now, replies.**

**Nights: Good, because scene and feelz whiplash will be everywhere. It'll probably hurt!  
He surely does, but Hamuko's definitely going to be playing a bigger part in this than the last time.  
Yeah, I think I put people off with the *other* pairing quickly. Ah well.  
Yeah, shorter chapters equals to faster updates most of the time. Hehe.**

**final cross 5: Good. Glad to hear it. **

**Kronos: I know, I know, no pairing is for everyone. Could be crazier though. Aaanyways, since you're here, you might as well get ready with the Makarakarns because there are going to be lots of new twists. Hope you stick around for them.**

**A Guy Without A Good Name: Haha, already replied to you. But do me a favour bud, I don't want to write your whole name every time I might reply to a review of yours if you're going to review more. Nickname please before I tear my hair out.**

**Raidou: Oh man, watch. Just watch and let the movies fly by, because there are gonna be lots of changes, I can guarantee that. Including... things that you simply will not expect, especially if you haven't read the original. (I hope you don't) I'm getting hyped for more chapters already!**

**Guest: True. Though, the reasons I like Mitsuru and Minato is different... I think we can all agree that Yukari is indeed a hard character to work with.**


	3. Ichor Stains

Minato stared emotionlessly out the train window, his earphones clipped on and anger inside his soul burning, and simmering, ever so slowly under the surface. He was back to that city where he lost almost… everything. The night time around the island city told him that the evenings there were the same as ever. But as he thought about it, he slowly, but surely, began to feel angry. Fucking Iwatodai huh?

He smirked inwardly as he gathered a small amount of energy into his palm, little droplets of spiritual power, or SP for short, swirling around his hand until it formed a hazy blue aura around it. Minato didn't dare release it however. It wouldn't do well to start a fire in the very train they were riding, right?

Hamuko was merely thinking about the past few years. The ten years that they had spent fighting and just managing to scrape along were taxing to be sure. But now that they had come back to Iwatodai with a whole different disposition towards Shadows and… actually, just people in general, they were different for sure.

Minato and Hamuko had grown stronger; almost impossibly so compared to any other normal human. They were even stronger than the Velvet Siblings combined. And that was not only because of their individual endeavours in their harsh training, but because Minato and Hamuko were a team; a solid, cohesive unit that moved flawlessly and cut down Shadows like they were nothing.

"Minato, why are you practicing harnessing your energy in the real world as well…" Hamuko asked, seeing that he was starting to get further into doing that kind of action. Using their powers in the real world simply wasn't as easy as it was in that Blood Hour, as they had dubbed it. Stupid name, but that was only because they were going off what they knew; there were puddles on the ground which they had found out that it was indeed blood, or at least diluted with it. She knew because of something that happened to Minato when he fought against a group of Shadows. They had used it to their advantage ever since.

It went something like…

Hamuko and Minato were running once again, swords in hand. "Minato, stop cussing at the Shadows and actually do something! They're getting closer!" Hamuko deadpanned at her brother as they ran through the blood covered town.

"Since you asked… I'm gonna fucking obliterate these pieces of shit!" Minato roared as blue mist erupted around his feet and eventually from the comprising mist, the fairy Jack Frost appeared. "Bufudyne their asses!" he shouted with a grin.

As if obliging, the small Fairy created pillars of ice around the Shadows, all with a playful grin as cold frost encrusted the sidewalk. One or two of the Mayas was pierced through mercilessly by the rising icicles, but there were still a lot left.

"Shit! Grah, when's Jack Frost going to learn Mabufudyne!? I swear!" Minato growled.

"Just be patient. For now…" Hamuko sighed. She looked around the corner to see if there was any efficient way for the two of them to take out the Shadows. Hamuko looked down at the ground, seeing the puddles of blood getting frozen over by Jack Frost's Bufudyne spell.

"Minato! Aim the Bufudyne at the puddles! They're stretching out everywhere so maybe we can get them all with one solid shot!" Hamuko exclaimed as she realized what they could do. In times of need, Hamuko was extremely resourceful. She might've been just as powerful as Minato, but unlike her brother who liked to use his power to outright pulverise the Shadows in front of him, mostly out of anger… she had a bit of a clearer mind in order to use their powers efficiently to take out the Shadows.

"You got it," Minato smirked as he pointed his finger to the puddles. A frigid blue energy started to gather at that point, and… "Mabufula!" he called, the blue energy shooting towards the red puddles.

Within a few moments, red icicles formed from the stretch of liquid, and the Shadows were frozen over almost effortlessly. Minato looked almost surprised, but at the same time, he knew that Hamuko could think of things like that to be more efficient with SP.

"Anyways… Mazionga," Hamuko called as tendrils of white blue electricity made from SP tangled and coiled around her finger. The ice and the metallic elements in the red icicles conducted the electricity, zapping the Shadows out of existence as they were trapped within the blocks of ice.

"Wow… that was really effective. That's a new strategy that we can use," Hamuko cheered. "If there are lots of puddles of… You know, what the heck is that ice made of?"

"I dunno," Minato shrugged before he knocked on the icicles. They weren't melting. His eye twitched when his knuckle knocked against the hard ice. "Ow…" he muttered. "Stuff's pretty hard."

"Isn't all ice hard? Anyways, I think we're done here," Hamuko sighed. "Looks like the red icicles conduct electricity really well."

"I think it's because there are more things that can conduct it in the water… if it's water," Minato said, finally calming down. "I really think it's blood actually."

"I think so too… kinda smells like it too…" Hamuko cringed.

Minato looked over at Hamuko before patting her on the shoulder. "Well… it's not really something we'll have to worry about. Unless we become doctors at a later age or something," he said nonchalantly, trying to lighten up Hamuko's mood a bit.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Hamuko replied.

"When am I not?" Minato smirked, earning himself a soft punch on the shoulder.

"When you cuss at the Shadows. Now let's get going before we get chased again!" Hamuko laughed.

Pulling out of her thoughts, Hamuko looked up as she heard the PA system announce that they were getting closer to their next stop. "You never know what amount of practice we can get here," Minato replied to Hamuko's earlier question. "But… we should get going. I'm not looking forward to going up another hour just because we missed one stop that we actually needed to get off of."

"Yeah, me neither. I don't wanna get you to teleport us here again…" Hamuko sighed.

"I doubt it would work. I don't know what the place looks like anymore," Minato replied with a scowl.

"Well damn," Hamuko muttered before picking up her MP3 player and changing the music that was playing in her ears.

Minato chuckled, ruffling her hair. Hamuko paid it no mind, and kept on looking out the window doors. "You don't mind anymore? I thought you didn't like getting your hair ruffled," Minato smiled a little as the train began to pull in.

"…you do it too often for me to care anymore," Hamuko muttered under her breath.

"Aw, have I worn out Shinjiro-kun's habit now already?" he laughed. Over the years, Minato kept ruffling Hamuko's hair ever since Shinjiro had done it at the orphanage. It soon formed into a habit, and something that Hamuko had to tolerate a lot more often then she would've liked.

"Don't. Call. Him. Shinji-kun," she growled. Of course, she just realized what she said.

"Aw why? Do you like him?" Minato asked with a sing-song voice.

Hamuko glared at her brother before punching him on the shoulder, not so softly this time. Thankfully, Minato switched to Kohryu in time and he didn't feel anything that time. The habit that Hamuko had of punching him on the shoulder when he was being annoying was something that he had grown used to, and now actually had the timing to block off any pain that could be caused by Hamuko's hard punches.

…last time he didn't block he fell down a set of stairs. Not enjoyable.

"No. He's a good friend who I hope remembers us," Hamuko huffed in irritation.

Minato smiled as he thought about it. He liked both Akihiko and Shinjiro; they were very funny, and they seemed like very tight knit friends that could stick together through thick and thin. "I hope so too," Minato said with a soft smile.

Hamuko blinked once or twice at Minato, and if she was drinking something, she probably would've done a spit take. She hadn't seen her more callous, yet sarcastically funny brother smile like that in a long time. The closest that she had seen for a while was a smirk, and that could barely be called a smile at all, especially with the accompanied crazed glare of his.

No, the smile on his face was an actually friendly smile, and one that she sorely missed. "You should smile like that more often," Hamuko laughed. "You look better with it."

Minato threw a questioning look at her before his lips turned up once more into a small smile. "I'll try," he said with a sad tone.

"Come on, I know you can," Hamuko laughed, patting Minato on the shoulder.

Before long, the train doors opened and the two siblings were able to take their first steps in about ten years to Iwatodai. "So, I guess it'll strike about at about midnight this time?" Minato mumbled as he looked at his watch and then up again at the train clock. He quietly took out his ticket, and Hamuko did the same.

"Yeah… I think so," Hamuko replied. "Not completely sure, but yeah."

It was something that the two of them had figured out when they were going to Japan first. On the plane.

While the two of them were on the plane, the Blood Hour actually struck. The moon was higher in the sky, so they couldn't see it, so the interior of the plane was pitch black, even though the outside in the sky was as green as Minato and Hamuko could remember that it was.

"Minato… it's happening again, even though we're in the air," Hamuko whispered to him, a small amount of fog coming from her mouth as she spoke. Up high in the air, regardless of the fact that it was a bit muggier and warmer during the Blood Hour, it was still very cold at higher altitudes.

"I guess it's because we're in a different place," he mumbled, his warm breath condensing.

"It's really cold as well since the air conditioning is off," she managed to say through clattering teeth. During the Blood Hour, no electronic equipment was active.

"Yeah…" Minato replied absentmindedly as he pulled on his jacket and gave the rest of the blanket that was warming him up partly, to Hamuko.

"Stay closer…?" she said quietly, pulling up the armrest between the two of them. Minato looked over at Hamuko near emotionlessly before he nodded. Hamuko hugged him tightly once he obliged.

When it was said that the two of them were inseparably close, it was surely no exaggeration. Any moment that they could spend together, they would spend to the best of their ability, just the two of them. It was probably out of a sense of insecurity; that long lasting worry that one day, they might not be able to protect each other and they couldn't be together for that long, and that one day the other could go was too early for the both of them to ever be ready for a moment like that.

They knew, wordlessly, after years of depending on each other, not even their newer parents, that if either of them disappeared from each other's life… they would be emotionally broken beyond repair. They wouldn't only have to live with the guilt; they would also have to live out their rest of their lives without the other in their life. Up until then, and up until their present time, that simply wasn't an option for any of them.

Their bond went as far to say that if one of them was left alive, the last would take his or her life without any remorse just to be with them again.

If Hamuko died, Minato would gladly end himself, and if Minato died, Hamuko would do the same. Not even one extremely strong pillar could support a structure without the other; without that other, they would all collapse; no question.

By the end of the hour, the two of them were both sound asleep in each other's grips, and by the time that the electronics turned on once again and the people around them were turned back to normal, it was still only the beginning of the hour before the Blood Hour reappeared once more.

"Well… we'll just have to see, right?" Minato asked absentmindedly.

"Yeah, I guess so," Hamuko sighed.

Three.

Two.

One.

On that exact moment, the Blood Hour fell again. The oh so familiar dread of the beginning of the Blood Hour overtook the siblings, and they once again grew ready with their SP, now better fuelling and flowing through their bodies again.

"Huh, it happened at pretty much, right at midnight," Minato commented as he looked around. "Well, looks like we're getting some extra sleep," he chuckled as they kept walking out of the station and out to the dormitory they were going to be staying at temporarily before they were going to be transferred to their respective dorms; which was a disappointment to be sure, since they would've felt much better having each other closer together, but they could live with it for two years.

"Yeah, I can always go for some extra sleep," Hamuko yawned. "I wonder how bad the jet lag's gonna be? I doubt it would be that bad, but I still don't like it. I'd be like two hours behind everyone else," she sighed.

"Our patterns were messed up anyways," Minato shrugged it off.

Hamuko sighed at that. They slept a bit irregularly because of the Blood Hour and because they both went somewhere a lot that seemingly slowed down time in there like it was nothing.

The two of them were still walking towards the dorm at the time, but that was before they sensed some Shadows around them. There were more than they two had encountered before in the city that they lived in. "Why are there more Shadows?" he asked absentmindedly as they started moving to avoid any attacks from the Shadows. They definitely weren't looking for a fight.

"I have no idea… but I'd rather keep moving and get to the dorm quicker," Hamuko sighed. "We can figure it out later when we aren't so tired out."

Minato nodded at that before they moved once more. He looked around at the coffins that were left around the streets. They were tall, dark and scary as usual. Minato briefly wondered about how sturdy they were before he shrugged the thought off. If he stood on top of a coffin, he had no idea what would happen with how much older he was now, and with that age, his weight.

The moon was larger than usual, seemingly yellowed with age. It was like they imagined it would be, but it was much bigger than how the moon had been before. Back in Australia, the moon was like just a little marble. In Iwatodai it was kinda like a soccer ball instead.

The last difference that they noticed about the Blood Hour in Iwatodai was that there was a lot more bloody puddles, meaning that the stench was even stronger than before; it also meant that it was more sickening than before.

Scraping off the blood that had accumulated at the bottom of their shoes at the steps that led into the dorm, Hamuko opened the door.

Inside, they found…

"Pharos, what are you doing here little guy?" Minato asked curiously. Pharos looked up with an almost indignant expression and laughed. He was dressed in prison-like pyjamas, black and white stripes and all. He had raven black hair, and lastly… strikingly cyan blue eyes.

"I was just waiting for both of you to arrive. You both came fairly late," Pharos folded his arms.

"Aw, sorry Pharos… It's just that the trains were delayed so we couldn't get here fast enough," Hamuko smiled apologetically, patting him on the head.

Pharos deadpanned at Hamuko before saying, "I know, I know. I'm always with you two, remember?"

"Of course," Minato answered with a bit of a smirk.

Pharos nodded before fading out of Hamuko's grasp and started floating above Minato, almost looking as his he was trying to hitch a piggyback ride. "You're lucky you're light, you know that?" Minato grumbled.

"Yes, and I am glad that you will not throw me off your back like you would a bag," Pharos chuckled a little. Hamuko giggled about it for a little bit before a voice caught her off guard.

"Who's there!?" the voice shouted.

On the staircase that led further up into the latter levels of the dorm, there was a figure; a girl.

Minato was instantly on guard and moved into a subtle stance, Pharos still nonchalantly sitting on his shoulders. Even though he could feel that this girl's strength was little, it was something of an instinct to react to signatures. And that meant getting into a battle stance.

Hamuko saw the girl pull out something, something like a shining gun from a holster but before she could point it at the two of them a commanding voice called out, "Takeba, wait!"

The girl on the stairs flinched and looked around, meeting the gaze of another girl.

At that exact moment, the Blood Hour had lifted and the once dense atmosphere disappeared. Minato could finally clearly see the two girls in front. He could admit that the two of them were very attractive, but he wasn't so much focused on their appearance as he was their intentions.

The first girl that they had seen had shoulder length, light brown hair, fair skin and mocha brown eyes. She was dressed in a pink jacket with a red ribbon around her collar and black skirt, presumably the uniform that Hamuko was going to be wearing. Her black socks were above knee-length and she wore some brown loafers.

The second, and seemingly, the older of the two, had red wine hair and equally red eyes. Her skin was akin to snow in complexion. She wore a white blouse and a red ribbon around her neck with a black skirt just like the other's skirt. Instead of shoes and socks however, she opted for a pair of knee length boots.

Within a moment of tension, Minato's impressions had been made. The brunette seemed to be a scaredy cat while the other seemed too pretty for her own good, and a very authoritative person.

"I didn't think the two of you would arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, and this is Yukari Takeba. She's a junior this spring, just like you," the redhead introduced herself and the junior.

The concept of starting this late in the year for school was something foreign to both Minato and Hamuko now, since the school year back where they lived started at about February and ended in December. Their major holidays were also in the summer, but since the summer in Japan came at a different time… lucky them, they had two major school holidays in a row.

Before Minato was about to shoot his mouth off at the fact that this Yukari girl had a gun, Hamuko shot a deadly glare at him telling him to shut up. Because she knew that when he was angry… he could say some pretty vulgar words. "I see! I'm Hamuko Arisato, and this is Minato, my older brother!" she smiled at Yukari and Mitsuru, seemingly assuring the former.

"Oh… nice to meet you," Yukari smiled slightly.

Minato seemed to be about to say something about why she had a gun again, but Hamuko glared at him once more, making him 'hmph' in frustration. Pharos chuckled a little at Minato's misfortune. After watching them for so long, he found it quite amusing to watch their little spats about something, especially when it came to rudeness.

In recent years, Minato had become more callous because of the way that he dealt with Shadow threats. He left them no mercy and wouldn't hesitate to jump on any opportunities that the 'little fuckers' left open. It also transferred over to when he interacted with other people, especially when they had put Hamuko or him in potential danger.

Put it simply, he was being overprotective again.

"Now, it's getting late. I think it would be best if we all acquired some rest. We still have school to attend tomorrow," Mitsuru said sternly before glancing at Yukari. "Could you lead these two up to their rooms?"

"Uh, right!" Yukari nodded. "Let's go! Follow me," she said.

Minato (begrudgingly) and Hamuko followed Yukari up the stairs and up to each of the floors, first stopping at the end of the hall at the boys' floor.

"Well, this is your room," Yukari gestured to Minato who nodded emotionlessly as ever, because he couldn't let out his anger. If he did, Hamuko would probably get him for that with a good Thunder Reign and that wasn't something that was looking forward to. "Pretty easy to remember, since it's right at the end of the hall. Make sure you don't lose your keys, you'll never hear the end of it if you do."

Minato nodded at that, not saying a word. He was trying not to say anything that could potentially land himself in a lot of trouble.

Yukari had a bit of a questioning look before she said, "Um, on the way here… was everything alright?"

Minato glanced at her with a scrutinizing glare. So, they were aware of the Blood Hour were they? "…everything was fine," he said quietly, trying to keep any animosity out of his voice. Whenever he talked to anyone besides Hamuko, he sounded… less than inviting.

"Um, okay," Yukari replied after a few moments.

Minato nodded slightly before smiling slightly at Hamuko. "See ya tomorrow," he said with a bit of a happier tone before he entered his room.

Yukari turned to Hamuko with a perplexed expression. "Is he always like that?" she asked.

"Yeah… he's naturally anti-social," Hamuko sighed. "Not really, but yeah… he doesn't like talking because unless he's talking to me, he sounds like a total douche or just really scary," she elaborated, scratching the back of her head.

"Oh. Has he gotten that checked out yet?" Yukari flinched.

"Nope. Isn't really his fault, but… I wish that he could say something without coming off really scary," Hamuko folded her arms. "Well now, is the girls' section upstairs?"

"Oh yeah. You're at the end of the hall too," Yukari smiled. "So this might be weird but… did you see anything weird on your way here?" she asked a bit more casual than before.

"Nope, not at all. It was pretty normal. Any reason why?" Hamuko smiled cheerfully.

"Nah, just making sure," Yukari waved it off. "Well, let's go up, huh?"

"Yup!" Hamuko replied.

* * *

**AN: Hi, I'm back again... This was a good chapter to write. I wrote it all in one day, yay me. (even if I feel I rushed the end of this chapter a bit...) Anyways, box down below; Reviews please, with thoughts or criticism plz?**

**Imma see ya guys later.**

**Nights: Yeah. More will be delved into what they were doing back in Australia, because every other epic Minato I know is English. *cough* Fairly English Story *cough*  
Of course. When is she never cute?  
I know, I want to get to them too, believe me.  
Thanks, hope you like this one too.**

**Raidou: Ah, interference will be everywhere, I assure you. Both mythical and not so mythical. Cool! I can't wait to get to next chapter either!**

**Kronos: Haha, well... this isn't just about Minato anymore. Hamuko's just as important this time. But any of those moments will be coming... later. Because I loooove creating drama.  
Yeah, relationships will be important and seeing the effects of that relationship and certain traits about characters will become more important as time goes on.**

**Irie: Yes. Like the pairing? Death and Chaos Rebuild's got the same pairing~**


	4. Velvet, Oh Velvet

Everything in their world had shattered, just about completely. It was a sobering thought to say the least of it all. But what was worse was that without anyone else to really talk to besides their new parents, Minato and Hamuko seemed to be worse off than ever. At least before, they had someone to talk to who knew the same pains as them. Not this time though.

Minato stared out the open window to the moon, musing that it was the same moon that they saw back in Iwatodai. He shook his head however. Forget about Iwatodai. Iwatodai isn't their home. It can't be their home anymore. Their home could not be the same place where they lost everything. Impossible.

"Minato…" Hamuko mumbled. "Aren't you going to get some sleep?"

Minato stayed quiet for a while before turning back to Hamuko with a near emotionless expression. "Yeah, I will," he replied. "Just wanna stay up a bit longer," Minato sighed. Many questions were swirling around his head; some very desperate questions; desperate questions in the way that he so desperately wanted an answer to… all of them, really.

But he knew that they couldn't be answered. Probably never would be answered. No-one could possibly answer where their parents went. He knew they died, but where did they go? No-one could answer the question of whether they weren't all going to die too sooner rather than later. He wasn't scared of that however. He was just scared of Hamuko dying. If somehow, by some cruel twist of fate, she died… he would have no idea what to do. There were many things that he could do, but he doubted that he could live without her in his life.

He wasn't only scared of Hamuko dying. Minato was also scared of him dying. If he died, he had no idea how Hamuko would handle it. It was something of a huge worry for him; because if she died because of him too, he could never forgive himself for it.

"Just get some sleep," Hamuko took Minato's hand, grasping it tightly within her grip.

Minato blinked once or twice before he nodded. If he had the choice, he wouldn't have gone to sleep at all. He wanted to watch over Hamuko; make sure that she was safe. But Hamuko asked, so it was okay, right?

"Alright," Minato mumbled.

There were many more things going on at the same time, even if Minato was only focused on Hamuko in almost every thought. English. They had to learn it, and also… on some insistence… they couldn't stop learning Japanese either.

Minato crawled back into bed, pulling the covers around him tightly. He didn't pull them closer because he was cold. In fact, where they lived now, it was warm. Summer. But he didn't care that it was that warm; he just wanted his parents back. More than anything, he wanted life to go back to normal.

But he knew…

Three.

It was inevitable.

Two.

He hated this fact.

One.

But nothing could be normal anymore.

…

That dread that the both of knew, and committed to memory fell. They had no name for it; the only thing that they knew was that it was during this time that their parents died, and no-one else could ever know. The fact that they were killed in such an otherworldly way meant that no-one knew about it, and never experienced this separate hour.

But when it did now…

Minato woke back up again, but he didn't move. His eyes were wide open, but he didn't move. "Can't sleep Hamuko?" he mumbled as he watched his little sister, imoto, get up with a nervous expression.

"No…" she said, biting her lip.

Minato nodded and got up as well. "I can't either," he said as he wrapped her in a hug.

"Will you stay awake with me?" she asked with an almost pleading voice.

"I will," he replied immediately. "When no-one else can, I will."

Neither Minato nor Hamuko slept with anything in particular. Before everything had just gone completely wrong, they didn't need any toys or anything to hug to give them comfort. But now they did, and the only things that really sufficed were each other.

"Thank you, nii-san," Hamuko smiled ever so slightly.

"Don't thank me for this," Minato said, making Hamuko look up with a curious expression. "I need you as much as you do me."

It was something true. Without Hamuko, Minato probably wouldn't even be there at that point in time. Without Hamuko, Minato was nothing. The same sentiment for Hamuko applied to Minato as well. Without Minato, Hamuko would be near helpless. But they were together now, and it was their sole promise that kept them sane:

'I will protect you and keep you alive until the end of time.'

Eventually, the two of them did fall asleep, and when they started dreaming, they had the strangest of dreams; one that neither of them had ever encountered before, and yet, one that told them that it was no normal dream. If it even was one.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

Minato opened his eyes from fairly peaceful sleep, and Hamuko did the same.

Minato blinked once or twice, seeing where they were. They weren't in their room. In fact… where were they? Had they died and gone to heaven or something?

Hamuko looked around the room, finally catching eye contact with a strange dwarf-like man. Wisps of white hair trailed off his near bald head. His eyes appeared to be bloodshot, and large, extravagant black eyebrows adorned them above. Last things that definitely told them that he wasn't anything normal: the eerie grin, and the long nose.

He appeared to be dressed in a black tuxedo with white gloves and all, and was hunched over a small table.

"Velvet Room…?" Minato mumbled as he looked around. The room was indeed, very blue, in fact, just about every inch of it was blue, including the walls and carpet. Behind Igor there appeared to be a closed gate and an erratically moving clock a bit higher up the metal.

"Yes, you are here within what we call the Velvet Room," the dwarf-like man reiterated his words. "My name is Igor."

Minato glanced around, but even as he was looking a way out, something told him that it would be better to calm down and listen to him. He didn't know what exactly, but he thought it had something to do with the blue butterfly that was perched upon the seat that Igor was sitting on.

"Um… I'm Minato," Minato mumbled.

"I'm Hamuko," his sister said quietly.

She too didn't know what was happening at the moment. If this was some weird dream, then it was certainly the weirdest dream that she had ever encountered. What was weirder was that Minato was with her. They couldn't possibly be dreaming the same thing, at the same time, could they?

Igor nodded at that. "Yes, as your contract states," he said.

"Contract?" the siblings said simultaneously.

"Yes, your contract. You see, the Velvet Room is a very special place. It exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It has surely been a long time before we have encountered any new guests that were in need of our help," Igor explained. Minato looked about to ask a question, but it seemed that Igor saw it coming. "You see, only those with a contract can enter this place and be entitled to our services."

"Your contract was that of your silent and unsaid promise."

Hamuko and Minato's eyes widened as they heard. How did they know about that?

"I can see you are surprised. It is no wonder. Well… We have only summoned you within your dreams to give you this so that you may re-enter this place of your own will," Igor said.

From the endless sky, one solitary key fell right into Minato and Hamuko's lap.

"We will meet again, young guests," Igor bid the two of them farewell before the blue room faded out of both Hamuko and Minato's visions.

When Minato finally opened his eyes, he found that it was a little light out. Something like about nine. At least, that was what he thought. Neither he nor Hamuko were used to the time difference between Japan and Australia yet. It was just two hours difference yet… it was something that could make a big difference.

"Hamuko… you awake?" he groaned as his eyes grew adjusted to the bright sunlight that was pouring in through the windows. Minato wasn't quote used to the intensity of the light either. It was a lot warmer than it was during winter in Japan, and still, a little bit brighter.

Hamuko's eyes fluttered open, and she replied, "I guess so…" before her head dropped once again. She was pretty sleepy still, despite the sleep that she had gotten before. "But I'm still sleepy," she sighed, pulling Minato closer to her.

Minato didn't mind it, and went back to sleep as well for about another hour. The jetlag that the two had from their trip was starting to catch up to them, and it was hitting them pretty hard.

And sure, their relatives were taking care of them pretty well, but Minato and Hamuko never really paid as much attention to what they were saying. After all this time, they still weren't getting over their losses, and it inevitably was going to take a long while. The only times that Minato and Hamuko ever really listened to something was when they were talking to each other. They were near inseparable.

The next day when they went to sleep once more, they dreamt of the Velvet Room again.

"Welcome back," Igor said.

"Um… hi?" Minato said with a small voice.

"Indeed… Now, I believe that the two of you are wondering why you have been called here to this strange place once again?" Igor asked with a knowing tone.

Hamuko and Minato nodded before two people from either sides of the room entered into their lines of sight.

"This is Elizabeth…" Igor said, indicating the blonde-haired girl in what seemed to be an elevator attendant's uniform; a blue dress that matched the shade that was used to colour the room and went down to her knees, same colour boots, gloves and hat. "And this is Theodore," he said finally, gesturing to the man next to him. He seemed to be dressed in the same themed clothes as the so named Elizabeth, with a blue bellboy outfit instead with a similar hat to Elizabeth's. There were a few same features between the two of them, namely the pale and fair skin, platinum blonde hair and lastly, and most notably, the striking, golden eyes.

"Pleased to meet the two of you," the two attendants bowed, smiling at the two children.

"Master Minato," Elizabeth tilted her head slightly and closed her eyes, giving said boy a soft smile.

"Master Hamuko," Theodore nodded a little, also giving Hamuko a smile akin to Elizabeth's.

"Um… hello Elizabeth-san?" Minato said nervously, not really sure what to think of her.

Hamuko had much the same sentiment however she seemed to be warming up a bit faster than Minato. "Hello Theodore-san," Hamuko waved a little.

Elizabeth giggled a little before she said, "Please, do not be so alarmed."

"We are only here to help you, and that is our sole purpose," Theodore explained to the still apprehensive siblings.

"How?" Minato asked, finally saying out loud the most obvious question at the moment.

"You see, the Velvet Room is here to help guests awaken to their powers. Yours are extremely special, given the circumstances in which you made your contract together," Igor said.

"How so?" Hamuko asked with a curious expression as opposed to a more anxious face like Minato's.

"You two house an extremely precious power, that depending on the ways that it is used, can be used to find the truth, to defend the just from evil… or perhaps bring the ultimate end. Not only that, but our master has given you two very special privileges to go along with that power, "Elizabeth smiled as she explained. "The power of the Wild Card."

Theodore had a knowing expression as Minato was going to ask what the Wild Card actually was. "You see, the power of the Wild Card gives you the power to change what we call… Persona."

"Personae are facets of your personality that can be called upon and materialized in order to defend yourself and help you overcome any hardships that come your way," Theodore continued. "It is definitely a tricky thing to have even one of these powerful summons but you as Wild Cards… are able to wield multiple numbers of them."

"How do we call Personae if we really have them like you say?" Minato asked as his gaze bored right into Igor's ever present one.

"You simply have to remember your promise to each other… that should be enough energy to summon one of them," Elizabeth smiled.

Hamuko looked at Minato, and Minato looked back. They might as well try, right?

Minato closed his eyes. He figured that it would probably be easier to summon it, if they really had one, if he had more concentration to back himself up. He remembered his promise to Hamuko, and what he knew what he would do for her and her for him. "I'll protect you," he mumbled as he felt something strange within him filling up his very being. Something cold, yet… filled with power.

Hamuko too closed her eyes, not really sure what she could do. Considering what had happened so far, she was sure that the people in front of her weren't lying. This Persona thing, whatever it was… if she could protect the two of them with it, then she would try and summon it. "I'll protect you," she whispered ever so slightly.

It turned out that they said those very same words at the exact same time, however, to the Velvet Resident's eyes, the normal Persona they would have expected did not appear.

A vicious, primal roar echoed within the halls of the room, and once Minato and Hamuko opened their eyes… it was needless to say that they were shocked.

And scared.

Minato blinked and his eyes widened as he saw that thing floating above the two of them. It was that thing that killed their parents! But this time, Hamuko and Minato knew its name.

"Thanatos."

With just one word, the beast quieted down and settled behind the two of them, his sword ready to defend his vessels. If he had the opportunity, he would surely have cut the two siblings down with no hesitation, but as it was, he simply could not kill them. He had no idea what was holding him back, but something was. Whatever it was, it was annoying. Worse off, he felt like he had to help them even! Death, helping someone like this of all forms? Preposterous.

"You are lucky that you wretched humans are holding me back. Otherwise, I surely would cut you down without any hesitation, Fools," Thanatos growled.

Igor's smile widened, if that was even possible. "Ah, it seems that this being that you two have summoned… it is not a Persona. It is the very personification of a God, the God of Death itself. How mysterious…"

"Quiet, insolent dweller! You shall bow before my sword, foolish being!" Thanatos roared as he brought back his sword and became ready to swing a deadly strike at Igor. However, it seemed that Elizabeth and Theodore, and by extension, Igor seemed merely amused by the whole spectacle. It was truly something unexpected, to have them summon Thanatos on their very first tries. Their destinies would surely prove interesting with this…

"Thanatos," Minato mumbled. "Don't hurt them," he said with a small voice.

Thanatos turned around, growling at one of the half locks to his prison. That was what they were; locks that he simply could not break, for whatever reason. "You dare speak down to me, little mortal!?"

"Shut up!"

Thanatos reeled back when he heard the combinations of their small voices. Minato and Hamuko had stood up by this point, and they glared right into the face of Death itself.

"You won't hurt anyone else!" Hamuko growled, a glint of determination flashing in her scarlet eyes.

"Now bow down and listen to our fucking demands before we bring you back in! Do you want that to happen!? Huh!?" Minato roared, almost like Thanatos had done a few moments ago.

Thanatos so wanted to cut down that little shrimp to size, but there was something that again, locked him down and he simply could not. The other factor that contributed was… Since when did a human of all people, have so much courage? Two human children no less! "Fucking bow down before my feet, otherwise I'll be sure to kick your ass five ways to Sunday you little prick!" Minato growled, a blue glint appearing in his once stately, silver eyes.

Thanatos seemed to be pushed down by an invisible force, and Death itself was finally brought down to his very knees, even seemingly exhausted. "Y-You…" Thanatos snarled before he was tethered to the ground with an invisible rope.

"What!? You gonna try and take me down!? I'd like to see you try!" Minato smirked. The first sign of emotion besides shock was… confidence and anger. "Now, stand down!"

Thanatos yelled as he was brought down to the floor once more, and even through the lifeless holes in his white mask, both Minato and Hamuko could feel the anger and the mere thoughts of insolence riling Thanatos up, even though the Death god knew that he couldn't resist their commands. It was infuriating.

"You children will pay for this insolence, on my very knife I swear!" Thanatos hissed before he disappeared into black mist. "Remember that…!"

"Minato…" Hamuko looked on at her brother as he gazed on at Thanatos' dissolving form with a smirk of utter confidence. "When did you start swearing?" she asked with a giggle.

"Just…" Minato sighed. "Got caught up in the moment I suppose," he laughed a little, rubbing the back of his head.

"Very impressive… I wouldn't have thought that you two would summon one of your most powerful weapons on the very first try that you would try summoning a Persona," Igor chuckled. "Now, I think it would be best if you tried to summon your real Persona. Because unfortunately, that wasn't a Persona."

"I kinda guessed," Minato grinned. "Well, I feel kinda pumped up about this!"

"Persona!" Minato shouted.

Blue mist started pouring out from below his feet, and within a few moments, a teal robotic man materialized from the blue shards of glass that were flying around Minato. "Orpheus!" he smirked. Minato glanced at Hamuko, silently telling her to do the same.

Hamuko looked on amazed, and finally feeling the determination and excitement fuelling the SP that flowed around her small form… she called, "Persona!"

Within a shattering of glass, a similar gold being to Orpheus appeared behind her. "Eurydice!" she smiled as her initial Persona was summoned.

Minato looked up at Hamuko's new Persona, his lips upturned ever so slightly as he laid his eyes on Eurydice. He couldn't help but think that she looked really… pretty. "We did it?" he mumbled.

"Yes… you summoned your very first Personae," Elizabeth smiled, looking on at the musicians, Orpheus and Eurydice.

* * *

**AN: Aaaand I'm back. Don't you LOVE quick updates? I just feel on fire with all the writing I've been doing, I hope I don't burn out anytime soon! So, please review and box me your thoughts, and hope you enjoy the chapter! **

**It's much different to any kind of Velvet Room summoning, isn't it? I'll explain more as the story goes on, because next chapter is gonna be back to Iwatodai and to school.**

**Imma catch ya guys later!**

**Yoshikunitsu: Haha, I love writing about these characters too! All of them!  
We already have another change too: Thanatos isn't any old Persona, and imma... emphasize that a bit more. I have things planned for our favourite Death God... hehe. Ah, I love it when I go off on tangents...  
Yes, Hamuko's going to get about half of the spot light this time, so look forward to that!  
Thanks, I surely will!**

**Raidou: Yeah, I love doing that kinda thing. Tension is important in a story where the bonds with other characters just pretty much MAKE the story great.  
Thanks! I sure will.**

**Irie: They'll come eventually. These kinda relationships should be taken slowly, so it might not be until a while unless I force it. Which I kinda don't want to do.**

**Nights: Haha, well now you might know a little more about why he cusses when he's fighting Shadows.  
I know. We'll be back to our usual program next chapter. This was some back story, because I loooove back story.  
Maybe later, when he gets REALLY riled up.  
I know, fluff awaits! But as always, later on.**


	5. Introduction To Life

When Minato and Hamuko were roused from their sleep, they found themselves in a very, very familiar dream. Blue, blue… and more blue. The Velvet Room. It had surely been a while since the two of them had been summoned to the Velvet Room in their dreams. They didn't really have a need to, but now… the two of them had no idea where the portal to the Velvet Room in Iwatodai was.

"Welcome back, esteemed guests," Igor greeted them as always. "I will get through this quickly. I remember that the last time I took so long to explain, unfortunately, master Minato had threatened to tear off my nose."

Minato flinched and chuckled nervously at that, not really sure what to say. All he did at that moment was rubbing the back of his head. It was a nervous habit of his. Whenever he was a bit nervous or embarrassed, he rubbed the back of his head. Strange to be sure, but that's what happened. He had never been able to rid himself of that habit.

"Haha… sorry Igor just… I…" Minato started only to be cut off by Hamuko.

"You got caught up in the moment, I think we all knew that was coming next nii-san," Hamuko sighed. Minato laughed awkwardly before falling silent, knowing that there was simply no way that he could argue with his sister. It was one of his weaknesses in fact. While he worked together with Hamuko exceptionally well with how long they had been fighting against Shadows together and learning each other's patterns when they fought… she was still his greatest weakness too. Not in the way of her being a weak spot in battle, but in a way that meant that he would always lose against her when they sparred, even though Minato was the brute strength involved in many attacks against various Shadows.

"Quite… I know. Now, I will cut straight to this chase," Igor nodded. "You see, you two have been summoned here as you two have reached what we could call… the pinnacle of all challenges that the two of you can face. So far, you have battled multiple times against Shadows, and vanquished them all soundly. However… this year will be different; not only in the way of opponents and preparation, but because this is the place where you will also find the truth that you two have sought for so very long."

"Shadows will be coming your way. That is true. However… there is something else at stake," Theodore smiled. He and his sister knew better than anyone that they were fully capable of handling themselves; they were indeed remarkably strong guests. They were the strongest guests that they ever had the pleasures of facing in battle.

"First, a new job that you will need to address will open its doors to the two of you. Second of all, you will face greater challenges than ever before; stronger than you might think. This will become apparent to you as the year goes on, I'm sure…" Elizabeth explained.

"What's this job?" Minato asked with a smirk. He was always in need of a good challenge. He had grown accustomed to the ways of battle, even going so far to enjoy himself while he participated. And it wasn't just because he could take the opportunity to kill more of those Shadows that he affectionately (or not so affectionately) called pricks or pieces of shit.

"You are to take up the mantle… of the Reaper," Elizabeth answered.

"Reaper?" Hamuko asked.

"Yes. The Reaper originally patrolled the depths of a place that you might know as… Tartarus. Hell itself," Igor explained.

"Tartarus, Greek hell huh?" Minato muttered. "What's he doing now?"

"Put it simply…" Theodore said. "He has become bored of his original duties. Had there not been any really powerful beings to take his place, he probably wouldn't have even suggested it."

"However, it seems that by some recommendation by someone you know… he will pass onto you two the mantle of the Reaper," Elizabeth giggled.

Minato and Hamuko's eyes widened. They couldn't have possibly imagined that he, of all people, would do that for them and actually deem the two of them worthy.

"He actually accepted us and he thinks that we might be worthy of the mantle of the Reaper?" Minato asked with a confident grin.

"Precisely. This is an action that so far… has been unprecedented," Igor laughed a little. "No God has ever done this before."

"I guess we have someone to thank then," Hamuko smiled.

"Indeed," Igor smiled. "Well, any assistance that you need shall be provided as always, once you find the portal to the Velvet Room. Farewell, young guests," he began to wave, the attendants also doing the same.

Once Hamuko woke up for real this time, she was greeted by a knock on her door. It was sunny. Morning. Great. Mornings were nice. "Hello? Are you up yet?" she heard. It took a moment for Hamuko to process it, but she finally recognised the voice as Yukari's.

"Yeah, I'll be up in a bit!" Hamuko called back as she calmly lifted herself from bed and got herself ready and presentable for the day ahead. Even if it was a different country, school was still abound, like it always was.

She finally opened the door, seeing Yukari in the frame. "Sorry I took so long," Hamuko apologized as she slipped the pins that made up the Roman numerals for twenty two into her hair.

"No, it's okay. I just don't want you guys to be late for your first day of school and all. Did you get some decent rest?" Yukari asked.

"Uh yeah, it was okay. I doubt you'll be able to say the same for my brother though…" Hamuko sighed.

"Why?" Yukari asked.

"Because… he's not a morning person," she answered simply. "He really likes his sleep," Hamuko explained. "In fact, let me wake him up when we go down. I don't want you to get shouted at or anything!"

"Oh, you'd do that? Really?" Yukari asked with a small smile. It seemed to be one of the appreciative kind.

"Yeah, sure!" Hamuko smiled.

The two of them made their ways downstairs, and without even batting an eye, Hamuko opened the door and shouted, "Get the fuck up before I splash the damned coffee on you!"

Minato's eyes widened and he scrambled out of bed, fully alert. "Where's the coffee!?" he yelled before his eyes finally landed on Hamuko's. "Oh. Uh good morning…" Minato said awkwardly. "Um… I'll go get changed…" he said sheepishly.

Hamuko walked out of the room satisfied before she turned to Yukari who seemed to have a dumbstruck expression on her face. She never would've imagined Hamuko to be able to swear like she did just then. It simply didn't seem to… fit her. "That sounded… violent," Yukari said nervously.

"Yeah, I know. I think it should be something of a thing while we're still staying here, but maybe you should get me to wake up Minato before he lashes out at you," Hamuko sighed.

"Just asking, but why you?" Yukari asked slowly, not really sure where she was treading with her words.

The door clicked open and Minato seemed to finally be ready for school, poker face and all. "Because if it isn't someone I know well, I tend to get pretty violent if someone else wakes me up," Minato answered with a blank face.

"Oh. I see…" Yukari said unsurely.

Minato nodded before putting on one of his earphones. "Yeah, so… like Hamuko said, better to leave it to her. I'm not gonna hold anything back on the unfortunate sap that has to wake me at the boy's dorm," he chuckled before smirking. The confident kind, not the scary kind this time.

Yukari's eyes widened at that smirk of his. There was something about it that seemed like… he was so sure of himself, and so full of confidence that it was near conceit even. There was something about it that… made her feel like if anything had happened at that moment, he would have been ready for it and he would have been able to take it head on without any problems. It was a strange feeling, but she decided that she liked it.

"Well, we should get going," Minato finally said with his hands behind his head as he walked. As it was, the very mention of coffee got him up and running, but it didn't get any of his energy back. Most certainly, he became much more alert, but he was still tired. "I'm not looking to get left behind by a train or something. Lord knows those public transport things are annoying as all heck. I've had enough of delays."

And it was true. Seeing that Minato and Hamuko lived around just west of Sydney, they had to deal with Cityrail's simply… awful timetable changes. Something or other would hold them up once in a while, be it rain, unexpected structure destruction or even a death on the rail way tracks. And then they would have to deal with the aftermath of all of it, mostly meaning that the trains that they could catch could be delayed by some fifteen minutes or other. Could be worse, but they still didn't like dealing with those changes regardless.

"Even though you were the delay this time…?" Hamuko muttered.

"We better catch up with him…" Yukari said.

"Yup, probably best," Hamuko said before she skipped off happily to join Minato. Thankfully, when he wanted to be, he could be very slow with his walking pace.

The monorail that led to the actual port island wasn't as packed as Minato or Hamuko thought it would be, but they didn't mind. Yukari and the two siblings spoke a little about things at school such as the clubs that they could join, though the conversation was mostly led by Hamuko and Yukari, with Minato interjecting at certain points to add his two cents to the conversation.

However, conversation stopped once Yukari caught a glimpse of her absolute favourite curve on the monorail track. "Oh I love this part! It feels just like you're gliding over the ocean when I see it," Yukari said wistfully.

Hamuko agreed, saying that it looked beautiful with the glistening ocean in the distance.

However, Minato stood emotionless as ever when he looked over the view. That was because he caught a glimpse of something that he would sooner forget, but something that was absolutely essential to his survival. Without it, he and Hamuko wouldn't have lost their innocence so early, and their parents would still be alive. His expression soon turned to that of a scowl as he started to recollect it all, and he was desperately trying to keep his anger down.

"Is he alright Hamuko?" Yukari asked with a worried expression.

"…I don't think so," she said honestly as she looked at the trembling form of her brother.

"Why's that?" Yukari continued.

Hamuko looked back at her before sighing, "Well, we did use to live at Iwatodai about ten years ago. But we had to leave because something really bad happened at the bridge over there, which is in near plain sight right about now…"

Yukari's eyes widened a little as she came to a very likely conclusion. "I see… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-" she started but was soon cut off.

"Forget it. It's nothing that you need to know about," Minato growled under his breath, even though he was trying not to sound angry, it was almost inevitable that he would. That's what he had learnt when he became angry…

Yukari was surprised by the change of tone by Minato, and she wasn't quite sure what to think of it, except, that like what Hamuko said… he was frightening with that tone of his.

The ride was filled with an awkward moment of silence before Minato spoke up again. "S-Sorry, I just… It's not something I want to remember," he mumbled. Minato stared at the ground, lowering his head, nearly in shame.

"N-No, it's okay, I shouldn't have pried into that," Yukari said quickly.

"It's fine," Minato finally said after some deliberation, choosing to shrug it all off for now and keep his reactions and thoughts quiet; like he usually did. He wasn't used to it. He wasn't used to opening up to anyone. Especially someone that he didn't know as well.

"Just let him think, he'll get over it later," Hamuko sighed. She knew that he would, even if it did take a few minutes before he went back to normal. "Anyways…"

Yukari and Hamuko finally jumped to another topic and they kept talking together once they had gotten back into the swing of things. All the way until the end of the monorail ride, Minato had kept silent.

He cursed himself continually for what happened when he snapped. That wasn't supposed to happen. He let his anger get the better of him, again. It was something that he was used to, sure. However, that didn't mean that he had to like it. In fact, he hated how angry he could be and how angry that he could sound when he thought about the whole incident, reliving the memory several times within his own mind, as if he were trapped in his own personal theatre that only played one movie on repeat.

"Well, we're here," Yukari said when they reached the gates to their new school. "Welcome to Gekkoukan High School! Hope you like it!"

Minato had half a mind to say that school was always a pain, but he kept his thoughts zipped up again. Remember what happened the last time?

"Wow, it looks beautiful," Hamuko smiled. "It looks so much better than the schools in Australia," she laughed a little.

Minato looked up around the cherry blossoms, and even he had to admit, of all people, that it was more attractive than the school that the two of them had to go to before.

"Really? I haven't been there, so I wouldn't know the difference," Yukari giggled as they finally continued walking through the gates.

"Well… they're kinda drab compared to the ones here," Minato said quietly, finally finding the will to keep his voice under control.

As Hamuko had predicted, he was back to normal again. Fairly, anyways.

"Oh, I see. Guess they haven't got cherry blossoms huh," Yukari smiled a little as a petal from the cherry blossom flowers landed on Minato's nose as he looked around.

"…okay, I wasn't expecting that one," he mumbled as he stared almost cross-eyed at the pink petal. That is, before he picked it off and let it go. "But yeah… they don't have any. They aren't exactly native to the place," Minato explained further as they entered the building.

"I can see that happening…" Yukari nodded as they stepped into the lobby.

"Well, I guess this is where I'll leave you guys… the faculty office is that way," Yukari said, indicating the hallway to the left. "And the stairs to the classrooms are there," she said last, pointing to the staircase next to the canteen.

"So, any questions in particular?" Yukari asked.

Minato and Hamuko looked at each other before the younger of the two said, "Nah, I think we're cool. Thanks a lot Yukari!"

The pink wearing girl smiled and replied, "It's no problem! Well, I'll see you guys a bit later. First day of school, it's gonna be one of those boring assemblies again, like every other year…"

"Oh. That sucks," Hamuko sighed. "They sound really boring…" she muttered.

"That aside… I think we should get going. We're making a bit of a spectacle," Minato mumbled, making the two other girls look around.

"Ooh, I think so too. Well, see ya guys!" Yukari smiled before she walked towards the bulletin boards.

"Faculty office?" Hamuko asked.

"Faculty office," Minato sighed.

* * *

**AN: I know, pumping these chapters out real fast. I dunno, I like it, and I'm enjoying myself right now. I can't wait to get to the really exciting bits with the deviations from the story and the fights, the fluff... Anyways. Recomposing myself right now. Plz box me your thoughts.**

**Imma see ya guys later.**

**Nights: Haha, thanks man.**

**Raidou: Brother and sister moments are going to be everywhere, I can assure you of that. Thanks, I'll do my best.**

**Yoshikunitsu: Yeah, fluff's awesome. But only in small doses. Is it possible to die from being exposed to too much fluff?  
Yup. It starts now, with this dream. The purpose of NTL was so I could have a story where Minato wouldn't die. This time is the same... so, it starts with the gods, and we're starting high in levels.  
I'm glad people are liking the stuff I'm putting out as always. And sure! Always will, otherwise these chapters wouldn't come to be!**


	6. Lights Out

"You have to remember that you have to be concise; like your blade. Your blade doesn't communicate on its own. The only way that your blade can say what you want to say is for you to become greater at wielding it. In fact… there are many ways that you can talk with your blade. A strong swing with much power behind it tells the other of your strength; a weak one tells the other of your incompetence… You have to be straight to the point with your power, show it to all that you know!"

…

"You must be the new transfer students. Minato and Hamuko Arisato, correct?" one of the teachers in the faculty office asked as she flipped through the files that she had on the both of them.

"Hm, you've been living in Australia for a while, and…" the teacher trailed off as she read the next few lines, even gasping as she saw it.

Minato rolled his eyes as he watched her reaction. He certainly didn't sign up to have her reiterate what he had been trying to keep down the whole morning. Hamuko looked at Minato uncertainly, not really sure what to say. She was mostly hoping that he wasn't thinking of saying something really stupid, or saying something that could potentially scare her off.

"I'm sorry. I haven't had time to read through your files yet. My name is Isako Toriumi, and Hamuko-san," Miss Toriumi began. "You're in my class, 2-F."

"And Minato-san, you're in 3-B," she said. "Well, I'll lead you two to the auditorium."

Minato and Hamuko followed along quietly. In Hamuko's case, dreading what terrible speeches the principal and everyone else had planned. In Minato's case, he was thinking about whether his other teacher's knowledge about the sword could be applied to real life situations and speech. And trying to keep himself from saying something rude to the teacher. Or well… Sensei, as people called them in Japan, and like both siblings had called their teachers long ago. But since getting to Australia they were forced to say different things because of customs and all.

The two of them were seated farther away from each other since they were in completely different grades, but all the same… they both fell asleep during the principal's speech.

Thankfully, neither of them got caught.

After the boring assembly had finished, the two siblings separated to their respective classrooms.

Hamuko listened on to Toriumi-sensei's notes about school and housekeeping stuff. At the end of the school day…

"Hey, wassup?" she heard a voice say.

She looked up to face whoever was talking to her, finding a capped teen with a goatee. "Um, nothing much. How about you?" Hamuko asked politely.

"Eh, just wanted to talk, seeing as you're a new transfer student and all. I know how it feels, being the new kid, so I just wanted to say 'hey,'" he grinned. That grin of his slowly, but surely, made a small smile appear on Hamuko's face. That grin of his was pretty contagious… "See what a nice guy I am?"

"Geez, are you at it again?" Yukari said, walking up to Hamuko. "I swear you'll talk to anyone who'll listen…"

The capped teen appeared to be putting on an expression of hurt before he said, "Hey! I'm just being friendly!"

"…right. So, what a coincidence that we ended up in the same homeroom, huh?" Yukari laughed a little, giving Hamuko a smile.

"Yeah, some strange things happen when you least expect them," Hamuko replied with a cheerful tone.

"Um, have you forgot that I'm here too?" the capped teen said with an almost offended tone.

"Nope!" Hamuko said cheerily before Yukari could answer. "As my brother always says, I just got caught up in the moment!"

"Well, it's good to see that you're going good so far on your first day. I've got archery stuff to organize, so I'll see ya later Hamuko," Yukari smiled before walking off. "And see you too I guess," she said, indicating the capped teen.

"Eh, well… I might've forgotten to say, but the name's Junpei Iori. But, you can just call me Junpei," he grinned. "Say, I also wanted to ask a few things, if that's okay with ya?"

"Uh sure, fire away Junpei-kun," Hamuko stood up, grabbing her bag.

"Well, I was just wondering… I'm guessing that the other guy that was with ya was your brother or something?" Junpei asked.

Hamuko's eyes widened a little before she answered. But of course, not before wondering about how the news was able to travel so fast around the school. It must've been some kinda complicated rumour mill that was pretty efficient. "Yeah, tall dark and scary is my nii-san, Minato," she said.

"Oh cool, well… people have been saying that maybe your brother's kinda in a thing with Yuka-tan, I mean, Yukari, since they came to school together," Junpei said.

"Oh man, Minato in a relationship? I almost can't believe that… but, Minato's in no relationship with Yukari… he can barely talk to a normal person without either sounding like a douche, or really scary," Hamuko sighed. "I doubt he would be in any shenanigans with Yukari. Besides, we all just met yesterday and we came together to school since we're staying at the same dorm for the moment…"

"Ah, I see," Junpei nodded sagely. "Well, since school's over and all… I guess maybe I could show you around the mall or something? Paulownia mall's a pretty big place after all!"

"Well… I'd love to go, but I have no idea whether…" Hamuko trailed off.

"Yo," she heard TWO voices say at the same time.

"Hey Hamuko, made any friends or something?" Minato asked awkwardly, once again, rubbing the back of his head as he always did.

"Yup! But isn't it kinda awkward just coming into the junior rooms like this Minato?" she asked.

"…I know, but an old friend of mine insisted," Minato sighed. "So, 'sup?" he asked of Junpei.

"Oh hi," Junpei grinned. "Name's Junpei Iori, but you can call me Junpei," he said.

"I'm Minato…" Minato replied, introducing himself.

"Hey, Minato?" Hamuko asked.

"Hm?"

"Well, this new friend of mine wanted to show me around the island a little bit," Hamuko smiled slightly. "Is it okay with you if I go with him for a bit?"

"Why are you asking me? I know you can handle yourself," Minato shrugged.

"Yes!" Hamuko fist pumped. "But uh… what was the reason you came here again?"

"This guy," Minato pointed his thumb over to someone that was coming up behind him. Silver hair and eyes, pale skin. It was something that Hamuko was able to recognize really well. His appearance was pretty distinct too, with that red vest of his.

"Akihiko-kun!" Hamuko eyes had probably started shining at this point.

"Hamuko-chan huh? It's been a pretty long while," the senior smiled slightly. "I'm surprised you guys came back here after you left like you did," Akihiko laughed a little.

"Yeah, so am I!" Hamuko replied happily.

Akihiko chuckled a little before he raised his hand and ruffled her hair like Shinjiro did before. However this time… Hamuko didn't lash out. Because of how often Minato did it, she simply didn't mind it anymore.

"Well, I gotta get going! I'll see ya later!" Hamuko said, grabbing Junpei and dragging him out of the classroom. He still had a fairly dumbstruck expression as he was being dragged out of the room, and didn't really seem to object.

"Wow man, Hamuko-chan's grown a whole lot since the last time I saw her," Akihiko laughed a little. "I'm serious, I almost didn't recognize you guys when I saw you, and when I saw her."

"Same to you man," Minato replied. "You're tall as all heck…" he deadpanned at Akihiko.

"I know… " Akihiko sighed. "So, what have you guys been doing all this time? We need a lot of time to catch up, don't we?"

"Sure do," Minato agreed.

"What's up first? How've you been coping with everything that's happened so far?" Akihiko asked. "I mean, last time I saw you guys before we started talking you two looked basically like zombies."

"Uh, well… we've been doing better, still affected and all, but it isn't that bad anymore," Minato sighed. And while it was true, he didn't exactly say by how much things had improved for them. It wasn't as much as he would've hoped, even if it was something. "I kinda feel like I've become more anti-social though, I can't hold a decent conversation with someone without either coming off as a douche, or sounding really scary. That is, in the words of Hamuko anyways," he sighed.

"Really? Think we might have something to work on then," Akihiko said, patting Minato on the back.

"So, I've been avoiding this up until now, but… where's Shinjiro?" Minato asked with a curious expression.

"Shinji?" Akihiko said with a forlorn tone. "Well… he's got something of a problem… you know what? I'll take you to see him sometime, but you might be kinda surprised by what happened…"

Minato momentarily wondered about whatever could be wrong with Shinjiro of all people. After all, back at the orphanage he seemed like a completely normal kid, just like him. "Alright then, if you say so," Minato replied slowly. "Might even bring Hamuko," he mumbled.

"Actually, that might be best," Akihiko said. "He needs an actual girl in his life."

"Oh why do you say that?" Minato asked.

"I mean, could you imagine how much Shinji was talking about Hamuko after you guys left?" Akihiko chuckled. "Kept on going on and on about how cute she was," he smiled.

"Well… she is cute," Minato said proudly. And that statement… earned him a punch on the shoulder.

"Since when were you so modest?" Akihiko said sarcastically. "Anyways, I think you should get back to the dorm. I still have boxing club stuff to deal with," he explained.

"No prob," Minato grinned. "I'll see ya later Aki."

Some few minutes later, Minato had gotten back to the dorm, finding… Mitsuru, Yukari and someone else. Hamuko came back just a few seconds after Minato, and they both entered the lobby. "Welcome back," Mitsuru greeted the two of them.

Minato nodded while Hamuko replied, "Thanks! And hey Yukari!"

Yukari waved back once Hamuko greeted her before replying, "Hey Hamuko."

"So, these are our new guests?" the man with Mitsuru said.

"Yes," Mitsuru answered, looking up at both of the siblings.

"Well, nice to meet you. My name is Shuji Ikutsuki. I'm the chairman of the board for your school. 'Ikutsuki…' it's a bit hard to say, isn't it? Even I get a little tongue-tied sometimes," Ikutsuki chuckled.

Minato decided quickly that he would keep his thoughts about Ikutsuki to himself. Firstly, Ikutsuki wasn't that hard to say. There were far harder names to pronounce back in Australia. That was hard enough with all the people from different countries and cultures gathering in one place; there were so many hard names to pronounce. Second… he didn't like him. There was something about him that… put him off.

"Um, nice to meet you too," Hamuko said, a little unsurely. She wasn't quite sure what to think about Ikutsuki-san yet. "But, I'm just wondering something…"

"What is it?" Ikutsuki asked.

"Well, I'm just wondering what the chairman is doing here?" Hamuko asked, though she trailed off a little bit.

"To welcome you two, of course. Is there anything else that you would like to ask?" Ikutsuki asked cordially.

The fact that he was only there just to welcome some couple of transfer students was setting off warning bells in Minato's head. No person as important as Ikutsuki could possibly be there just to welcome some transfer students or something. But of course, he kept that to himself. It wouldn't do well to come off as rude, and Minato knew first-hand how rude he could be.

"Nah, I don't think so," Hamuko answered.

"Well, I hope you two have a successful school year. I think it would be best for you two to get some rest; you must be tired from all the excitement," Ikutsuki smiled. "After all, the early bird catches the bookworm," he chuckled.

Okay, he just went from annoying to spawn of Satan. And Satan was ugly as fuck. Minato knew, no-one could possibly make jokes that were that bad. "Please forgive the pun," Ikutsuki kept laughing a little more.

"B-But… that wasn't even…" Hamuko mumbled. And suddenly, all respect for Ikutsuki went down the drain for her.

With that, Ikutsuki got up and left the lobby. "Don't worry, you'll get used to his bad jokes," Yukari sighed, trying to comfort the two siblings.

"That wasn't… joke…" Hamuko mumbled, still dumbstruck enough that she couldn't form a really coherent sentence. Ikutsuki was truly a force to be reckoned with.

"I think he might've traumatised her," Minato mumbled. "Come on Hamuko," he sighed, grabbing a hold of Hamuko's collar and dragging her up the stairs.

"Do you think she'll be okay with Ikutsuki-san around here?" Yukari said with a worried expression.

"We can only hope," Mitsuru sighed, closing her book. "I may have to tell Ikutsuki not to say any of those dreaded puns of his… lest she fall unconscious."

Once Minato had finally been able to get to sleep from what happened that afternoon, there were a few knocks on his door. Wordlessly, he opened the door, already knowing who it was from the SP signature that he could feel; he knew it well enough that he could recognise it in specific. Not only large SP sources, but hers' in particular.

"Can't sleep Hamuko?" Minato asked, knowing her well enough that she would only call on him for that reason. It was something that happened a lot; the two of them were very lonely and there were only so many people that both Minato and Hamuko opened up to. There were only two after all the time that they had spent without their parents guiding them and supporting them.

Hamuko nodded and Minato smiled knowingly. "So, what's keeping you up?" he asked as he sat on his bed, Hamuko following along after Minato and sitting next to him.

"I was just… thinking about a few things," Hamuko said. "And no, it's not about the puns this afternoon."

Minato carefully picked off that possibility off the shelves of things that Hamuko could want to talk to him about. "Anything in particular?"

"Well… it's just that this year… it just seems a lot different to all the other years, and I don't mean that because we're in a different place to all the other times that we've started the year," Hamuko tried to explain. "Don't you think so?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean… I've been noticing stronger spirit power signatures around this dorm in particular… from Yukari-san, Akihiko and Mitsuru-san," Minato sighed, folding his arms.

"Do you think that… they might be Persona users?" she asked quietly, her voice getting softer, down to the volume of Minato's already quiet voice.

"I think they might be. That's what it seems like," Minato replied. "I kinda hope that they aren't though… you know what Persona users have to go through…"

"I know," Hamuko mumbled. "Also, I think it would be good if we went looking for the portal to the Velvet Room soon."

"…I guess so. I don't think that what they told us the last time in our dreams was all that we needed to worry about," Minato nodded in agreement. "Well… do you think you'll be okay to sleep now that this is off your mind?"

Hamuko smiled slightly and gave Minato a hug. Once she broke off from the slightly surprised Minato she said, "I am now. See ya later Minato."

"I'll see you too," Minato replied. He looked around, seeing that the moonlight that was filtering through the windows was more yellowed than usual. Blood Hour huh? He paid it no mind before he went back to sleep. Fortunately, or unfortunately… he was too used to the Blood Hour to actually care that much about whether it was actually happening, or whether it was normal evening again.

"Oh wait, Hamuko," Minato grabbed her wrist as she was getting up. "Be careful… I think we're being watched by someone…"

"Sure, Minato-nii," Hamuko nodded before she went back out the way she came in.

"I wonder what they're watching us for… Well, nothing to worry about for now," Minato sighed, taking a glance up at the corner of the room where he could see a certain security camera. "It's not like they could hear what we were saying."

"Lights out," Minato muttered before resting his head on his pillow.

Back up in the control room, Mitsuru, Yukari and Ikutsuki were going over the scene that had transpired in Minato's room.

"Well… I think it would be a good time to leave off the recordings for now… I believe we have gathered enough evidence that they may indeed have the potential by the fact that they were not worried about the fact that they were talking in the middle of the Dark Hour, and that they seemed to be fully conscious when they were conversing," Mitsuru noted.

Yukari nodded slowly in agreement, still ruffled by the very action of watching them, seemingly spying on them. Put it shortly, she wasn't comfortable with watching them, especially after watching what had happened between the two of them.

"That and… I do not think that it would be wise to watch them while they are having a private conversation," Mitsuru smiled slightly. Even if the reason that they were watching them was for the mission that she had given herself, her greater good, and the good of all people that were affected by the Dark Hour, she still didn't condone watching something as private as what had just transpired."I feel we have intruded enough tonight."

"Yeah… I still need some sleep as well," Yukari agreed as she stood up.

"Yes, I think it would be best to have more strength for tomorrow," Ikutsuki agreed. Although, he was still thinking about how aware the siblings seemed to be of the fact that they were in the Dark Hour, and how natural it seemed to them. It was intriguing to be sure…

"Lights out," Hamuko mumbled as her head hit the pillow and the ones above finally shut off their recordings, going back to sleep.

* * *

**AN: So, I'm back… FF fucked up a few days ago, so yeah, that happened. Plz box me yo thoughts, I'd appreciate it.**

**Imma see ya guys later.**

**irie: I won't.**

**Raidou: Cool, because they're going to be … the main thing, pretty much.**

**Nights: Yeah, wasn't it? I dunno, I enjoy making these characters swear more than I really should. And well… I dunno, maybe Igor is a bit afraid of Minato, but that's up to later chapters to sort out.**  
** He's… kinda depends on who he's talking to, however I can assure you it probably won't be for too, too long.**  
** Or a Morning Star if he's really irritated. Of course!**  
** Sure will.**

**Yoshikunitsu: Haha, I know. I can never have enough of fluff, even if battles are some of my favourite things to write. Ah well, I don't think it's possible to die from too much fluff. I'm just joking about that.**  
** I know! OP heroes are fun as long as well… as long as they are flawed in some other ways as well, and they have opponents that can match their levels of strength.**  
** Haha, I will.**


	7. The Force Behind Friendship

"Stand up! You will not collapse before my presence for I will cut you weaklings down and end all of your dreams right where you stand! You are truly lucky. I will admit to one thing; you have piqued my interest at best. You are unlike many other people such as yourselves, filled with determination and courage that could make me wretch just by seeing it. Defiance is something I simply do not see enough anymore, and for that I will at least acknowledge that you are special among others. Do not let that fact fill your head. Merely use your defiance as your very own fuel; to fuel your very actions and give you more power. That is all I need to see, so do not disappoint me by failing here…"

…

The following day went by pretty normally; Minato and Hamuko went to school, the older of the two spent time catching up with Akihiko while Hamuko hung out with Junpei.

"So, what's up with your brother? He's kinda… well, I mean he seems like a genuinely good dude, but he's pretty cold otherwise," Junpei asked quickly, not really thinking too much about how he was wording his question.

Hamuko sighed before saying with a slight smile, "He's a stick in the mud, that's all. Things haven't really been the best for the two of us, so he's pretty bitter about that… We haven't really been talking to a lot of other people, so he's not very good with his attitude towards others."

Junpei mulled it over for a bit. He was now wondering about what happened to the two of them, but this time even he could see with his painfully low amount of tact, that it probably would not be a good idea to ask that kinda thing right off the bat.

However, Hamuko was merely watching on Junpei's expression with a blank face, trying to see what he was thinking about. Eventually she came to a conclusion. "The two of us have been taken care of by some distant relatives in Australia, since our real parents died ten years ago," Hamuko shrugged. "Since then, things haven't really been the same, and Minato's only good at speaking to me since we never really talked to anyone else."

"H-How'd you know what I was thinking about?" Junpei asked with an incredulous tone. He didn't even say a word about his questions out loud, so he was pretty surprised.

"I didn't," Hamuko grinned playfully.

Junpei blinked a couple of times before Hamuko continued with, "I was just watching your expression. You seemed awfully curious, so yeah…"

"O-Oh…" Junpei stuttered.

Hamuko punched him lightly on the shoulder, thankfully definitely not as hard as the punches that she pulled on Minato when he was being annoying. This time it was more of a playful touch. "I don't mind. Just don't ask Minato about this kinda stuff. He's depressing when it happens and he'll probably get really, really angry if you do!" Hamuko said with a sing-song voice.

"I-I probably won't," Junpei said, chuckling awkwardly. "But, uh… if ya don't mind me asking…"

"What's up?" Hamuko asked with a smile.

"If your brother is like that… how come you're so different?" Junpei asked, this time saying it slowly and trying to pick his words with a bit more care. And he never did that. Just went to show that even he of all people had tact sometimes, and thankfully, at the best of times.

"Well, when your bro is a stick in the mud, would you be down with him?" Hamuko giggled playfully. "I wouldn't. Would you?"

Junpei was gobsmacked for a few moments before he finally recovered. That was exactly how he thought. No-one could possibly be down through all of it, and he certainly wouldn't, even if all kinds of shit were happening around him. "Yeah, I agree!" he nodded with his very own trademark grin.

Hamuko couldn't help but follow along with Junpei's smile. It was the kind of smile that left a real impression on you, and the kind that rubbed off on you once you saw it, and you couldn't help but feel happy seeing that very grin. She quite liked it. It was a nice change of pace from Minato's small and rare smiles. "That's good!" she laughed.

Somewhere inside her, she could feel one of her Personae, Surt, stirring slightly. She couldn't possibly fathom why, and she decided that it was something that could be left until later. Besides, Junpei was way too fun of a friend to hang out with.

She almost stopped herself once she re-examined her thoughts. She thought of Junpei as a friend? An honest to goodness friend? "Junpei, I'd just like to put this on the record… I think you may just be my very first friend here in a long time!" Hamuko smiled brightly.

Junpei blinked once or twice before he replied, "W-What made that come out?" Junpei chuckled nervously. "That's kinda out of place," he continued.

"I just wanted to let you know! You're a good person, I can tell," Hamuko replied simply. Again, it was something that she wasn't used to. She had never smiled this much before on her own. She usually forced herself to be more happy so that Minato could be happier, but for the first time in about a decade, she was smiling because she was actually, genuinely happy.

"G-Geez!" Junpei muttered. "Making me feel all fuzzy inside and I don't usually feel that way!"

Hamuko giggled before she said, "Well, there's a first for everything!"

"Yeah, I know," Junpei sighed with a tired tone.

Before long, the two had talked their ways to the path where the two of them would divide up. "Ah so… I guess this is where we split up?" Junpei sighed.

Hamuko once again, watched Junpei's expression. It appeared as if he wasn't forward to going home at all. "Yeah…" she said with a disappointed tone. "See ya later, I guess," Hamuko said goodbye and waved.

"I'll see ya later, Hamu-tan," Junpei grinned.

The two teens both turned heel to separate for their homes, however Hamuko had been mulling over Junpei's expression and came to a conclusion. "Junpei?" she called just as he was about to step out of a range where he couldn't hear her.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Wanna hang out tomorrow too?" Hamuko said with a bright smile.

Junpei thought about it, but all too quickly he decided that it was something that he couldn't refuse. Besides, Hamu-tan was offering, so it would've been fine, right? But really, he was all too happy that Hamuko asked. He had something to look forward to for tomorrow, and that smile of hers was pretty persuasive. Kinda reminded him of his.

"What, you gonna miss me that much?" Junpei said teasingly. "But yeah! I'll see ya tomorrow!" he said with his trademark grin.

Hamuko blew a raspberry before she waved back and ran back to the direction of the dorm with a huge smile on her face.

…

The next day, Minato had split up from Akihiko at school because of boxing once again, however this time he passed by Paulownia mall. He thought it would be prudent to familiarize himself with the area some more. Even if he had once lived around the same area before, he didn't remember what the place actually looked like and his handle on the place wasn't completely sure.

It wouldn't hurt to find some good places to hang out there; if he needed to, that is.

Once again, he slipped on his earphones and listened along to one of his favourite songs; Darkness. The narcotic tune of the electronic sounds and the guitars brought the song a mysterious and foreboding tone until it turned into a rough battle. It was one song he couldn't forget, especially since it helped him get through scuffles with Shadows more than once by helping him concentrate.

He always concentrated better when he was listening to music.

Paulownia mall was a pretty interesting place. It seemed the kind of place where celebrations and events happened a lot because of how open ended the space around the mall was. It was quite nice with the well maintained fountains. He could only imagine how interested Elizabeth would be in them. No, he could. And it almost scared him.

Well for one start… there was Club Escapade. But Minato wasn't a clubber by any means and neither did he drink. He went through many efforts to let himself stay clean of it, mostly because of Hamuko's urging. That and from his tiny experience with it, alcohol tasted terrible to him. He couldn't understand for the life of him how anyone could like it.

Next was the café.

He walked over to the sign in front of the place, examining what he could buy. Pheromone coffee was what caught his eye the most. Apparently it increased his charm.

…Sounded dodgy to him.

If there was any reason that he was going to go to Chagall Café, it was for tea and cake. He absolutely hated coffee with a passion. The stuff did nothing for his chronic sleepiness and only made him more irritable than usual. And he was surely irritable enough already.

And he wasn't planning to work there any time soon. He could only imagine how much attention that could attract, especially at a place like a café of all places. If it were up to him he'd be working at a music store or something like that.

Police station. He could make an effort not to be arrested then. Not that he had ever been arrested before. He couldn't possibly get himself into jail or something and leave Hamuko. That would just be stupid, even if it was the key to gaining ultimate godly powers and using them however he pleased after he broke himself out like a badass and was on the run for the remainder of a month like an awesome person, hiding out in the Velvet Room whenever he needed rest.

…after all of that heavily elaborated thought ran out, he wasn't really sure whether that was worth it at all. It sounded really weird and dangerous, if not an excuse for him to gain some godly powers or whatever. He could already teleport so he didn't need any more powers. Would be nice to kill some Gods though.

Anyways, the thing of interest here was the bulletin boards. The requests on it were pretty interesting… and the rewards were unconventional. However, they were exactly the kinds of things that he was interested in. Imagine what gems he could save up if he did all of those requests, and the money!

No. Wait. Keep your greed under control Minato. Later… he would come for them later…

Anyways, next there was the karaoke place, Mandragora.

…who named a place Mandragora? That's just weird. Sounded like something from Harry Potter or… he wasn't quite sure. Just something and a thingamabob he didn't know. Or maybe it was from Pan's Labyrinth?

…he wasn't sure where he was going with that train of thought.

Anyways, he could go there every once in a while with Hamuko. Minato and she absolutely loved singing. Minato would always take the guitar however and Hamuko the piano. Those were their specialties and their favourite instruments. For Minato, the electric guitar was awesome in the way that you could play the different notes on the strings and how things could actually sound if you distorted the sounds that came out. It was interesting.

…where and how did he get to this?

How is it that he kept getting caught up in a tangent? It was kinda annoying in fact. Couldn't he just concentrate on one thing and stick with it?

Anyways, there was Be Blue V, which he wasn't particularly interested in. It was a clothing store after all, and he wasn't particularly interested in fashion at all.

The store Power Records caught his eye in particular. From what he could see from outside there were all kinds of CDs and cases inside the place. Seemed like his kinda place. He slowly moved his thoughts about Power Records to the back of his mind, storing it for later much like he would a computer file. He thought that it could become useful later if he needed some more music. It was something that Minato was always in need of because of how much he listened to it.

Shinshoudo Antiques caught his eye next, despite it being closed. There was something about the place that was particularly eye catching and gave a certain, tense atmosphere as he thought about it. He liked it in fact. He put that to the back of his mind with his notes about Power Records before he moved to the Jack Frost Doll machine and Game Panic Arcade.

…he shoved some coins into the crane game in the Jack Frost doll dispenser, and did so repeatedly with utmost determination until three finally went out. Well, that didn't take as long as he thought it would. He thought that it would have been totally haxed and he wouldn't be able to get anything for an hour.

Regardless, he carried the three dolls in his bag and went around the area once again, making sure he got his bearings right.

Wait, was that a blue glowing door in the alcove under Mandragora?

The Velvet Room!

* * *

**AN: Booored. Box me yo thoughts and stuff… Imma see guys later.**

**Nights: Yeah, surprisingly enough.**  
**Haha, continue to be mystified.**

**Raidou: I know. Next chapter.**

**Yoshikunitsu: Yup! I know! It's fun thinking of ways for Minato to best his opponents. Ah yes, flawed character… And true to both of those. I won't.**

**Droffatsstadford: I'm sorry, but next chapter man.**


	8. Being Social

"Your blades… they do not just cut into an enemy's skin. It does not only slice them, and slash them to pieces. They bite and savour the taste of battle much like you do. I never thought that people like you could grow to enjoy battling this much. In fact, I think it suits you. Now, take it as a compliment. You will not hear such a thing from me again."

…

The softly glowing door that Minato had eyed when he had gone around Paulownia mall was calling him. Not because there was a voice calling to him within his mind. Only because he was rather drawn to the Velvet Room. He liked it there and it was one of his favourite places to stay when he felt that he was having a hard time. There was something about its calming and soothing atmosphere that always made him want to go there when he had nothing to do.

And right now, there wasn't that much to do since he had finished looking around the mall already. Minato thought that the Velvet Room was in a pretty good place this time. It was good that Paulownia mall was open 24/7. It meant that he could go there any time.

Minato walked slowly over to the Velvet Room door under Mandragora. As he kept his gaze on the door, he couldn't help but feel himself excited to go in, however he found that the doorknob wasn't budging as he held his hand clasped around it. It was locked again?

Well, it looked like he would have to use his key this time. As his hand slipped his Velvet Key into the key hole, he saw that his hand was trembling slightly. Not from fear of course. He was trembling with anticipation.

A small 'click' sounded as he turned the key and the door unlocked. It almost set his heart pounding when he heard it, since he hadn't opened the Velvet Room door in a while with his key. He didn't need to while he was in Australia because he had unlocked the entrance that he normally used about a decade ago and never needed to since. But he was in a different place, so he figured that maybe it reset something or other.

…this was something that he could think about later. Just get in already!

Minato turned the quiet handle, not a sound coming from the inner workings of the door, whatever they were. Not that Minato knew what they were. It wasn't like he cared about how complicated a door lock could be or something. That just sounded stupid at that point.

"I'm home," Minato called as he closed the door behind him.

He had gone to the Velvet Room so often before that he considered it a second home. That was how close it was to him. He even had something of a second family in the residents of the Velvet Room. He didn't see some of them too often however, and the ones that he did see were the ones that he was closest to and interacted with the most; Igor, Elizabeth, Margaret and Theodore.

Although, Minato had taken to calling Elizabeth 'Liz' since eventually he decided that calling her like that after so much time was kind of awkward. And for that, Liz called him 'Minnie.'

…he still didn't like that nickname.

"Hello Minnie," Elizabeth said as she skipped over to the entrance and gave Minato a warm and familiar hug. Minato smiled slightly when she did, returning the embrace.

"Hey Liz. Sorry it took a while to find the entrance. I'll tell Hamuko about it later so that she can meet up with Theo," Minato said as Elizabeth let go of him.

"Please do. He has not been acting… himself lately," Elizabeth said with an almost sad expression. Note that it was only 'almost' sad. It really just meant that she wasn't and she was being playful and teasing about the whole situation. "He has been completely beside himself, my poor brother," she sighed wistfully.

"I can see that you're as sorry about the situation as you are about teasing Igor's nose," Minato mumbled. Which meant, she really wasn't. She actually even thought that it was funny. She absolutely loved teasing Igor about his long, long nose. Elizabeth even made a song about it with her elder sister. That was how dedicated she was to teasing Igor.

Not that Igor ever appeared to be fazed.

Igor cleared his throat to disperse the situation, his brow furrowed as he looked at Minato. Ah, the not-so amused face of Igor that was only a few millimetres different to his usual expression. Yeah, it was still hard to tell but Minato knew well enough over a decade when he was amused, content, or like then, simply not amused.

"S-Sorry," Minato chuckled awkwardly and Elizabeth had a pouty expression on her face. "Uh well… I…" Minato struggled and fumbled around with his words like he would a ball when he was playing dodge ball (which he somehow sucked at) but was stopped by Igor who merely gestured to the seats in front of his table.

"Uh, alright…" Minato sighed as he walked over to and settled on the seat that he usually took next to Hamuko. It was yet another of his habits that he had never gotten rid of; whenever he took a seat on a couch of some sort or if there were two chairs, he always made sure that there would be room for her as well, even if he was alone.

Somehow, he felt that it made him more secure as it was a place that Hamuko could come to if she ever needed a place by his side. Hamuko also did the same for Minato, and had a place where he could sit if he needed it. And most of the time, they did. And that was why they often sat next to each other whenever they had the chance. For the two of them together, they felt as if nothing could ever go wrong. Even if they weren't really there at the time, they could imagine it, and that worked just as well.

"Minato, I have some more things to tell you about this year that will be different to all other years…" Igor began his explanation, and as always, Minato listened intently.

"What would that be?" Minato asked with a curious tone, even though his face showed no change of emotion in it.

"They are… bonds. Bonds with other people," Igor said, almost smirking at Minato's expression. Or lack thereof. Minato wasn't particularly sure what Igor meant, and Igor knew that. "This year, you must form friendships and close bonds with other people. Hamuko has not realized it, but this has already started."

"You mean… my bond with my imoto… isn't enough?" Minato said quietly as he thought about it. To him, he still wasn't sure about it. It seemed just so… pointless really. All of the Persona gathered in his psyche were strong; hell, even beyond strong. They were Persona that weren't meant to be that strong in fact. Originally low levelled Personae such as Orpheus, Jack Frost, Pyro Jack and even Pixie of all things were among the rows of absolute monsters and could devastate a bunch of Shadows with almost no effort at all.

And so, Minato continued to wonder. What could bonds possibly do for him when he was already strong enough with just his sister by his side?

"Not this year. There are threats coming for the two of you with all speed, and not even just your increased synergy will be able to get you through, believe it or not," Igor explained.

Minato mulled it over for a few moments. Igor had no reason to lie to him, but the problem for Minato… is that after regressing into an anti-social he had pretty much forgotten how to interact normally around people, let alone new people. "I believe you, Igor… you don't lie and can't for that matter… but the problem is, even if you want me to do this and Hamuko the same… I dunno if I can," Minato grimaced.

"Minato my boy, you haven't failed me before have you? I'm sure you can," Igor said with an almost fatherly tone. "Your bond with your sister is the Star. And that silver-haired friend of yours… his bond is of the Emperor, and another one in particular, while in struggle, the beanie wearing one… he is of the Hierophant. It will not be easy, but with these already established and the other two fairly strong, I'm sure you will have no problem forging close bonds with the people around you. For example, the one that wears pink, and the red-haired girl…"

"I've already started this whole thing?" Minato asked unsurely.

"Yes. So, do you think you can take on this task?" Igor asked with that same smile of his.

Minato stared down the ground, thinking it all over. "I think… I think I can…" he replied softly.

"Good. Now, run along, and please send Hamuko here as soon as possible," Igor smiled as Minato rose from his seat and headed towards the door.

"I will," Minato smiled slightly as he exited the Velvet Room.

He looked around, finding that there more people around the mall than there was before. Well, he figured that it would be pretty awkward to have a bystander find someone coming up from a dead end and arbitrary path… Minato thought about the consequences of him teleporting. He teleported, he wouldn't attract attention. He teleported… what would happen to the security cameras and stuff then?

…ah screw them. Why did he care about that again?

Minato snapped his fingers and he disappeared from the mall without a trace.

…It was probably because he still knew the value of stealth but ignored it this time.

…

Minato reappeared only a short distance away from the dorm, and because of where he teleported, no-one was able to see him. And yet, he felt that it still wasn't the best idea, where he landed…

Minato quickly tried to regain his bearings as he was starting to lose his balance while he stood in the branches of a tree. And thankfully he did, only by barely grabbing onto a tree branch like a sloth or something of that kind, hanging from it with a frantic expression. "Not the best idea Minato, not at all…" he muttered as he lowered himself from the branch.

Safely this time.

He landed perfectly on his feet, much like a cat when he stretched himself from the branch and let go of it. He landed right next to a passing dog…

He eyed the small white animal's crimson eyes with his own, looking them over. Quickly, Minato switched over to an old Cerberus Persona, the white lion being pushed to the forefront of his mind. "So… why are you looking at me?" Minato asked softly as he bent down and looked at the dog eye-level.

The dog merely kept wagging his tail happily like it was a windscreen wiper from a car on the highest speed possible. Actually, make that two times faster. Minato couldn't hear what the dog said when he barked, however he was able to make out some semblance of emotion in the sounds that he made.

Mostly just general happiness this time. Well now, Minato had actually switched to Cerberus because he helped him understand animals better in terms of Personae. But he had never imagined that this dog was just so… human in so many ways.

Minato thought that it would be best to check whether that dog had a name. He did see a collar on it somewhere…

He reached his hand towards said collar, looking on the medallion for any details. On it, he could read a phone number and a name; Koromaru.

"Koromaru?" Minato mumbled, eliciting a bark from said Shiba Inu. Minato decided that it was probably best for him to call him that and returned his thoughts to the situation at hand.

"Shake," Minato said, holding out his hand. Within a few moments, Koromaru placed his paw on the other's hand, and Minato shook it slightly. "You're pretty smart, you know that?" Minato chuckled slightly before petting Koromaru's head.

"Welp, I think we should get going. See ya Koromaru," Minato said as he stood up. Koromaru barked back in response before setting off on a leisurely pace on his walk.

…Minato thought about that for a few moments, now seeing that there was no owner to walk Koromaru, and that he was actually walking on his own. Not only smart, but Koromaru was also loyal. He got that sense from the dog.

He could feel one of his Personae, Siegfried stirring slightly within the sea of his soul as he watched Koromaru walk off. He wondered why, and focused his gaze more intensely on Koromaru.

A few moments passed, and Minato's eyes widened when he found out what Koromaru had; that dog… it actually had a Persona.

Minato shook his head, trying to make sure he wasn't going crazy. No normal dog had a Persona of all things after all, and he wasn't really sure what to make of it all. It was all so bizarre and far-fetched, but then again, he figured that he should be used to this kinda thing. This just happened when you were a Persona user.

When Minato thought about Koromaru, he couldn't help but feel a small tugging on his soul from Siegfried.

…was it yet another bond that he didn't know of?

However, Minato didn't dwell on it all for too long. He had to get back to the dorm. With that, he ran towards the building with all speed, meeting Hamuko in the doorway as she had come back from her hanging out with Junpei just a few moments before he did from his exploring.

* * *

**AN: Back and a second chapter will be coming soon once people read this one because it's still important. I know you guys were probably looking forward to the Magician fight, but it'll come out if ya review fast enough! **

**Imma see ya guys later and plz box me yo thoughts for both!**

**Nights: Something to worry about until I somehow run out of quotes.**  
**Yeah, I know. Filler, yet… necessary filler. He's not a hero. Yet.**  
**I know. Hope you like next chapter then.**

**Raidou: Yeah, that was pretty fun to write. And thanks! I will.**

**Aniki: Hello, and yes! I'm teasing myself at this point.**  
**Unconsciously? Well, whatever, so long as you enjoy it. I will.**

**HotasIceColdasFire: Bored? Well, saved from boredom huh? Yeah, one of my favourite parts to write.**  
**Also, that was a joke. It was a reference to something that happened in the original fic. I will.**

**Yoshikunitsu: Yup, you got it!**  
**Mmhm, I'm taking this slow, but I think it'll be good. I'll put as much detail as I can into this and since the chapters are shorter I'll be able to split this up a bit better.**  
**And yeah! But that's a story for another time friend.**  
**Yeah, they will, a little bit later.**  
**Sure will.**

**Droffatsstafford: Thanatos, I need a nickname for you. QUICK! SUGGEST ONE SO I DON'T HAVE TO SPEND SO MUCH TIME FIGURING OUT HOW TO SPELL YO NAME!**  
***cough* I made TWO chapters so that I could do both explanations and filler at the same time AND the fight. Problem? XD**


	9. The Power Behind Magic

"Remember that you cannot trust anyone that you have not known for long. I suppose you know that… but I am saying this, because the last time I did, I was tricked! Played a fool! I will never forget that one law, as it cost me someone that I should not have lost. You two display an almost sickening amount of trust for each other, but I suppose that it is one of your greatest weapons for now. But do not forget the one simple fact; people can betray you and people… are not always truthful."

…

Hamuko in particular was sleeping very soundly. The events of the day while she hung out with Junpei were very exciting for her, and she was growing more and more used to hanging out with the capped teen. That aside, not much else happened. She decided that the day after, she would go and look for the Velvet Room when she got a chance to have some things explained to her by the residents. Whatever it was about she wasn't quite sure, but she figured that it was going to be at least exciting. She was just optimistic about it like that.

Minato however was a whole different story. He was anxious. He felt that something was coming for all of them tonight, and it kept him awake. So much so, that he had to keep himself as busy as possible so that he wouldn't think about it. The feeling of dread when something huge was coming for him or Hamuko… unfortunately for him it was something that he could rely on. He didn't like it, even if it helped to keep the two of them safe.

Minato removed two sheathes and a belt from a long cardboard box, along with the black cloth that was stashed with it. He looked down at the hilts and took harsh grips on both of them with his calloused hands, drawing the two blades from the leather sheathes slowly.

The swords that he kept in near impeccable condition shone with a soft, milky glow, as if they were moons themselves. It was the shine from a pair of extremely well kept blades. Minato wouldn't dare neglect them; it was advice that was always drilled into him from his teacher.

He always kept his blades as sharp as possible, and never dull. They were swords with lives of their own; they lived and they died, they grew closer to those who kept them and with them, the owners had to learn many things like discipline, strength and how to communicate.

Communicating with a broken and dulled blade spelled a clear message; that the user was inexperienced or that he/she was lazy, and neglectful.

For Minato, his swords held a strong and clear message with the sharpness and shine; that he lived for the thrill of battle, and that his swords were companions that had to be looked after too. They helped him if he stuck with them. And with them, he would impose his very own will onto the battlefield. He cut swift and true; with finality.

Like Death itself.

Minato ran the black cloth slowly along the edge of one of the blades, its properties beginning to shine through as brightly as the reflection of the light that bounced and danced off the metal. The black cloth that he used to maintain his swords was no ordinary piece of cloth. It was actually a piece of cloth cut from the same armour that Thanatos wore.

Because of that, there were some special things about it that could only be seen in battle, aside from the lustre, toughness and sharpness of the swords.

Once Minato had cleaned off the edges, he strapped the leather belt around his waist and practiced slowly the motions that his very body had learnt by wielding the blades for so long. His style was something very special, and something that his teacher had actually taught him about personally. But that was a story for another time.

One blade was unconventionally shorter than the other, the other being as long as you would expect from a rapier of some sort. But of course, Minato's primary sword was more than just a rapier. It was a one-handed sword, a bit more like a Gladius, but still longer.

The other blade that he also used was basically a dagger, but more the length of a tanto. It was a very strange combination to be sure, but Minato had his reasons.

He didn't particularly mind the camera that watched him. His nerves were more important, and it wasn't as if he would use the swords for anything else but killing Shadows.

Before long, the Dark Hour fell and the dread from before hit Minato even harder than he could imagine. It wasn't normal. He thought that the Dark Hour was a little more… subtle than the feelings that had just washed over him. Put it simply it felt like he was being hit with a car. And that never happened. And yes, he had been hit by a car before. That wasn't pleasant at all. Again, it was a story for another time.

Minato sheathed both his blades and mulled over what had just happened. Again, the foreboding feeling that he had felt was coming even closer, and it felt like it was unlike any other Shadow that Hamuko and he had fought together.

Minato was jolted from his thoughts when tremors shook his room violently. He rose to his feet as steadily as he could, recognizing a variety of SP signatures and a last, large one. Shadows!

He opened his door, surprising Hamuko and Yukari who had just been rushing down from upstairs, obviously roused by the shaking that was rocking the dorm. "You're already awake? Whatever, we need to get out of here!" Yukari said frantically.

Minato looked to Hamuko who merely nodded. "Alright," he muttered. "Where to?"

"There's a back door that we could escape through," Yukari explained quickly, beckoning them downstairs as she ran. Minato and Hamuko followed behind her, the two unfazed and determined respectively.

The three of them were able to reach the lobby of the dorm fast, and Yukari was about to bolt to the door and get it open, however she stopped in her tracks.

"Takeba, the one we're fighting isn't the one that Akihiko saw!" Mitsuru called through what seemed to be an earpiece and communicator.

"What!?' Yukari said, terror filling her voice. "Uh okay…" she mumbled.

Finally, she turned to the siblings that were following her and said, "We have to find another way out of here."

Minato wasn't one for thinking on his feet however he decided that while it was incredibly stupid, the roof was their best option for now. Besides, he knew that even if they kept running, the Shadows would keep running after them even if they hid. Hamuko and Minato knew that fact all too well. "Roof," Minato said simply as he started his route towards the rooftop.

"A-Are you sure?" Yukari said with a shaky voice.

"Just trust him!" Hamuko urged the hesitant Yukari. Eventually, Hamuko just ended up pulling Yukari up with them since she didn't seem inclined to move; possibly frozen by fear.

Hamuko and Minato knew that feeling all too well from their first encounters with Shadows.

After a mad dash to the roof, Minato closed the door behind him. "Don't lock it," he warned with a dark tone filling his voice. "That's a back-up escape route," Minato said.

Yukari was shaken by Minato's tone of voice. She had never heard anyone so angry or darkened before, and it reminded her all too much of the typical monster that you saw in horror movies. It was that close.

"Come on out you bastard!" Minato snarled, calling out seemingly to nothing. "Hamuko, do you have your sword on you?"

"Yeah… so we're going to fight huh?" Hamuko said, placing a hand on her own sword. While Minato had two, she only had one, but it was the same kind as Minato's primary blade.

"That's the only way that we've gotten out alive before, isn't it?" Minato smirked as he moved a Persona to the forefront of his mind.

"Yeah," Hamuko agreed, also pushing another Persona to the front lines.

Meanwhile, Yukari was still dumbstruck by the whole thing. Both Minato and Hamuko seemed ready to fight, as if they were used to it! And somehow, she could feel the raw spiritual power emanating from their forms, and flowing within their bodies. She hadn't felt anyone so strong before, not that she could! Not even Mitsuru or Akihiko were as strong as the two siblings. They were like tamed bunnies compared to these monsters in strength.

The tension was thick with the scent of blood, the darkness, the ravenous screeches of Shadows and the spiritual power that was almost dripping off of the parties and seeping into the very air that they breathed. It was the air of battle.

A lurching sound brought to Minato's face a sickening smile as he thought about what he could do to that Shadow and what the dying screech of it would sound like. When he battled he carried not only the will to destroy as many Shadows as possible, and the will to find out exactly why everything a decade ago had changed like it had; he also fought because he liked fighting and to sate a certain blood lust that he harboured. And Ichor did the job just as well.

Strong Shadows were the perfect targets for Minato.

Hamuko got herself into a ready position and finally unsheathed her sword, calming herself to a steady pace as she gazed at the blue mask that seemed to just peer over the edge of the rooftop with lifeless and hollow eyes. Surely, this thing that she was facing was stronger than any kind of Shadow that she had encountered before with her brother, but it didn't faze her at all. If she was with her brother she could face anything that was thrown their ways with utmost confidence.

She would support her brother for as long as she could.

The Shadow that rose from the edge of the rooftop was a single tangled mass of black arms and hands, some being used to move and others holding long swords, a single one being used to carry the mask that seemed to sense its surroundings. And yet despite that mask, there was something about the way that it moved so haphazardly that made it seem as if it was uncaring of where it actually went, almost blindly and without any hesitation.

"Gemini!" Hamuko called.

"You got it," Minato smirked as he dashed towards the Shadow, with one single aim in mind.

The Shadow was unfazed by the attempt made by Minato to get under its defenses, and flailed its swords about in an effort to keep Minato away.

However, Minato cleanly dodged each of the strikes as they came and he slid underneath the Shadow. Without any due warning, his legs kicked the Shadow high up into the air. "That was easier than I thought," Minato chuckled mirthfully as the Shadow was sent sailing up.

But he wasn't finished yet. "Garudyne!" Minato called, a green tornado tossing up the Magician even higher up than before; high enough for Hamuko to do her part.

"Melchizedek," she mumbled, blue mist forming at her feet. A humanoid with armour and jet plane-like wings appeared behind her and with its appearance she zoomed over to where the Shadow was in the air.

It hadn't yet reached the point where it was going to fall back down to the ground, and that was just what she needed. "Brave Blade!" she called, switching one of her most trusted Personae to the forefront of her mind. She drew her blade and swung it down into the Shadow's skin and spilling black Ichor as it aimlessly flailed about in the air, absolutely helpless to her attack.

The Shadow was sent down to the ground again like a missile, right where Minato was readying his attack. Hamuko did the same, readying spiritual power into her open palms, the SP crackling as it formed the attack that she needed.

"Ziodyne!"

All in a flash, white-hot bolts of lightning struck the Shadow from both sides, spasm after spasm occurring in its many arms as the electricity coursed through its body. The Shadow gave out an ear-piercing screech as it began to disintegrate into red and black mist.

And to finish the combination…

"Thanatos," Minato mumbled.

"Thanatos," Hamuko whispered.

Minato finally drew his blade and swung upwards with a smirk.

Hamuko sliced her sword downwards as she concentrated on getting a safe landing.

They swung their blades in unison, and in a split second black Ichor and red mist dispersed everywhere onto the rooftop, including the ones who performed the attack.

By the end, Minato and Hamuko were plastered with the black blood but the only important thing to them at that moment was repeating in their heads:

We're alive.

* * *

**AN: Hope you enjoyed the Magician fight everyone! I had a hard time deciding whether I should go along with an already existing Fusion Spell (originally I was gonna go with Scarlet Havoc or Shadow Hound), but then another idea came up in my head about certain Combinations that the two siblings can perform. Admittedly it wouldn't be the most SP efficient Combination, but they're powerful and the basic culminations of their skills. And speaking of, I used Gemini as the name for this one. So yeah, there are eleven more for each of the Zodiac signs.**

**I'll list the Combination used in the chapters with some info too.**

**Plz box me yo thoughts, I'd appreciate it a lot! Imma see ya guys later.**

**Droffat: *sighs* Thank Thanatos.  
I meant basically, I made TWO chapters to upload quickly because the first (chapter 8) was mostly just character development. The second is this.  
My friend, I update whenever I want, but lots of reviews makes me more motivated to go and that's why I've been updating a lot lately.**

**Yoshikunitsu: At least one person did, but that is something that will be revealed later. It's not as if anyone else knew Minato as well as Hamuko did before he started changing.  
Yeah, my chapters are short, but I try to put as much work into them as I can. And because since they are short I can work more efficiently. Besides, they aren't that short, are they?  
Sure will!**

**Nights: Mmhm, because there's more than one heart in this world, other than yours of course! Hope ya like this chapter den!**

**Raidou: …something to wonder about indeed. That would make a good one-shot or something.**

* * *

GEMINI: Up down combination. Target is sent into air and then a double Ziodyne attack strikes the target from below and above as if it was stuck in a thunderbolt. May slash afterwards to finish off target.


	10. Breaking The Habit

"I admit that you two are quite courageous to ask this of me. I never before would have even considered giving any person the time of day, but I suppose that you have grown on me a little bit. Your courage will be able to pull you through many situations, both life-threatening and some not. I've seen it. And it is something that you can use to bring yourself closer to your goals. Remember that…"

…

Minato and Hamuko looked around to see if they could find any more sources of SP, finding that there were no very major ones and that most of the ones that they did find were negligible at best and far away from their own location. "Are you okay?" Minato asked with a stern expression, earning a nod from Hamuko.

"What about you?" she asked of Minato, who nodded back in response. "Yukari, are you okay?" Hamuko asked the shaken girl behind them.

Yukari had watched how they moved and how easily they utilized their Persona powers; they didn't even have to use an Evoker and they summoned Persona with no problems whatsoever. On another matter… aside from the Persona that Hamuko used in battle, she had a feeling that there was more to their power than met the eye, sleeping deep within their psyches. "I-I'm okay, don't worry about me…" she stammered, still trying to wrap her head around how powerful the two of them were.

"That's good," Hamuko smiled slightly.

After a few moments, Minato scowled. Hamuko wasn't quite sure why, but she thought it had something to do with…

The door that led up to the rooftop burst open, surprising Yukari. From the frame, Akihiko and Mitsuru ran onto the rooftop. "Minato, Yukari, Hamuko! Are you alright?" Akihiko asked as he looked around the scene, clutching his arm.

Yukari nodded dumbly while Hamuko replied, "We're okay!"

However, on Minato's face there was an icy cold gaze directed at Mitsuru. After sighs of relief, Minato said with frost lacing his tone, "What were you thinking?"

Mitsuru turned to Minato with an unperturbed expression, yet Minato knew that there was surprise hidden in her usually stoic face. "What do you mean?"

In merely a few moments, the atmosphere of the Dark Hour seemed to get colder by the second and absolutely chilling. The tension was thick with silence. But Minato elaborated with venom.

"I mean, why didn't you come sooner!? Do you think that this is some kind of game!? If you do, so help me I won't hesitate to end you or whoever is in charge with no mercy," he snarled. "If you don't, I have to question how sincerely you think of the situation, because with that delay, who knew what could have happened!?"

"What if Hamuko and I weren't able to summon or weren't able to destroy that Shadow? Yukari obviously can't summon yet and has never before, even though she's been active," Minato pointed to her, making Yukari flinch before a look of shame crossed her face. "Even if she could, that Shadow was much stronger than she was! If there were any deaths, what would you do!?"

Mitsuru and Akihiko were stunned silent by Minato's harsh words. In fact, Mitsuru was looking down at the ground in shame. Akihiko looked between Minato and Mitsuru dumbly, not knowing what to say to Minato's words. On one hand, he was surprised about how hard Mitsuru was actually taking it, and on the other he wasn't sure what to say to Minato's words and was wondering about how he could possibly know something as harsh as that when he was much more cheerful when he hung out with him.

Eventually Minato growled to himself once he realized how much he had snapped and stormed out of the rooftop, repeatedly cursing himself for how harsh he had sounded. While he had meant to scold whoever was in charge, once he had remembered what he said and heard how angry he was, he immediately chalked it up to his badly managed fury again.

"Crap, crap, crap," Minato muttered.

"Nii-san, are you okay?" Hamuko asked with knowing expression as she came down the stairs.

Minato seemed about to say that he was fine, and that she had nothing to worry about, but he stopped himself. She probably already knew why he was feeling like he was and how. Hamuko had known him for long enough to know how her brother was feeling. So, he told the truth. "Not really…" Minato mumbled.

Hamuko smiled a little before giving him a warm hug. "Don't worry about it for now. Just apologize when you can. When the damage's done you can only try to fix it, right?"

Minato sighed as he thought about it. He guessed that he could only do that. He honestly had to work on this 'managing his anger thing' sometime. He couldn't keep on getting angry with someone if he had to keep this socializing thing going. It was part of what he had to do this year after all. "Yeah…" Minato nodded slightly.

"Good," Hamuko smiled as she broke off the embrace. "We'll be up and running again tomorrow," she laughed before punching him softly on the shoulder.

…

Hamuko skipped her way over to Paulownia mall, finally getting a chance to the following day after school. She figured that it was going to be a good opportunity as ever to try and find the Velvet Room like her brother had detailed yesterday before they went to bed. Hamuko was also figuring that maybe she could figure out exactly why Minato seemed to be trying a bit harder to be happier around people.

Well, as happily as he could.

He still wasn't quite getting the hang of it, but she knew that he would get it eventually. She did after all manage to at least look happy and didn't snap whenever she talked to people. That mightn't have seemed like much if you knew how much she actually did talk to people other than her brother, but it was still something and more than her brother ever did.

That's what counted.

She was impressed by the facilities around the mall but the one thing that caught her eye the most was actually the crane game near Game Panic that had all the Jack Frost dolls inside it. She absolutely loved the Persona Jack Frost that she had, and it was quite a surprise to see that Jack Frost was actually more prominent in the real world more than she had ever known that the little frost demon was.

But she was getting side-tracked of course. Hamuko finally made her way to the passage underneath Mandragora, which she had also made a note for, considering how much she loved singing and how much she enjoyed it.

She was told by Minato that he already unlocked the Velvet Room's door with the key that they shared. Ever since the two of them had obtained the key to the Velvet Room the first ever time that they were summoned there, they had shared it between the two of them and they swapped possession of it every so often just to make absolutely sure that it was safe.

There was one time that the two of them had actually lost the Velvet Key and ever since then, they had kept the mercifully (or not so mercifully) small key on a chain so that they wouldn't lose it for sure. And ever since then, they never did.

But that was a story for another time.

She opened the door easily and slipped inside the blue room, looking around for any sign of her respective attendant. "Theo! Theo-kun!" she called with a happy smile.

She pouted as Theodore didn't appear, but he summons were answered but a few moments later by a surprised looking Theo. "Theo-kun! That's where you are!" Hamuko laughed a little as the flustered attendant made it into the main room.

"A-Ah, yes! H-Hamuko!" Theodore stammered before being pushed fully out of the room with a great amount of force and almost falling. Theodore managed to gather his composure after the door behind him was shut, and he stood himself up. "I apologize for the delay, Hamuko. I'm afraid that Elizabeth was trying to challenge me to a drinking contest to which I respectfully declined however…"

"Oh, don't worry about it Theo-kun!" Hamuko smiled sheepishly as she tried to pat the attendant on the head. However, he was quite tall in stature, and it was difficult for Hamuko to try and do so.

"…thank you Hamuko. Now, I believe I should tell you about another of the major missions that you have been given this year and that you must complete to its fullest," Theo started.

"What is it Theo?" Hamuko asked.

"You see, now that you are here at hopefully your final move, it is your job to create more bonds with the people around you to help you get through the year. It has come to our attention that you two should now be mature enough to fully pursue this goal, and that there are many incoming threats coming during the year, much stronger than any Shadow that you have ever face so far," Theodore explained.

"Bonds? So that's why Minato was a bit more sheepish yesterday before the Dark Hour fell and everything," Hamuko finally realized. If he was more open and at least somewhat more approachable it would be easier to interact with more people.

"That is exactly right. Now, I believe it would be prudent to tell you of the bonds that you have already made. The bond between Minato and you is the Star Arcana, however that is no bond that you will have to worry about unless something particularly drastic happens to your connection," Theo said. "Your capped friend, Junpei is the Magician. And you may not know this yet, but now will be a good time to become even better friends with the brunette, that is, Yukari."

"I see, so we've got this started already? Cool! Thanks a lot Theo!" Hamuko smiled and gave him a hug. "Is that it?" she asked.

"I believe so, Hamuko. Now please, come again of your own accord later on in the year when you deem fit," Theo replied as Hamuko broke off the hug.

Theo bowed and said, "I hope to see you again soon."

"I will Theo! See ya!" Hamuko smiled as she headed for the exit with a skip in her step.

…

Minato sighed as he tried to think of a way to make it up to Mitsuru. He may have been bitter, but he wasn't cruel. That job was left to Death instead because he did a better job of it.

However, he was interrupted by an injured Akihiko.

"Hey, a-are you okay after last night? I know that might be a pretty stupid question, but…" Akihiko started, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.

Minato looked up with a solemn expression. You could only tell that he was not particularly up to anything only because of his eyes, and that was what gave his expression away. Otherwise, it was almost blank. He almost had half a mind to say 'what do you think' and snap completely, but he managed to stop himself that time, even though his lip was quivering with the words that he had threatening to spill out.

"I guess," Minato answered simply. "What about you Aki?"

"Me? Well, my arm got kinda banged up but other than that…" Akihiko merely shrugged at the question.

"Your arm didn't look the best yesterday," Minato mumbled. "Anyways, I guess I haven't really answered your question either."

Akihiko blinked once or twice, not really sure what he was really saying. In fact, Minato had never been this hard to read before. He couldn't tell what he was thinking at all. "I'm not really okay like I said. I'm just kinda… feeling awkward about what I said yesterday. It was kind of… harsh," Minato sighed.

"I see…" Akihiko mused. "Maybe it was harsh, but really… most of what you said was pretty true. We should've been there right away," he sighed.

Minato stayed quiet for a few moments before finally deeming it alright to express his true concerns to Akihiko. He knew that he was a guy that could be trusted after all. "…I'm actually not sure what to say to Mitsuru-san. She seemed really hurt by what I said."

"That's what you're worried about?" Akihiko smirked before smacking Minato on the back. "Man, didn't know that you cared! She's the last person that I'd be worried about. She is surprisingly strong," Akihiko smiled sheepishly before flinching, seemingly remembering something that gave him the shivers. Not only out of fear, but because he swore that he felt a chill run down his spine right at that moment when he talked about Mitsuru.

"If you say so, but I'll still bad otherwise," Minato sighed.

"Well, you can talk about that with Mitsuru tonight. She and the chairman were going to hold a meeting tonight to discuss your powers and Hamuko's too. You should come, and Hamuko too. You could find out a few things from her," Akihiko supplied, trying to be helpful.

"Well… thanks Aki. Let me just make it up to you," Minato stood up, charging SP in his fingertips. However, instead of the usual faint blue glow of offensive SP, it was a soft, jade green.

"What do you mean?" Akihiko asked, starting to feel some strong magic stirring up from Minato in particular.

"I mean," Minato said, placing his hand on Akihiko's shoulder. "You should try moving your arm."

With that, Minato walked up to his room.

Akihiko wasn't sure what he meant, but once he twitched his hand slightly, he didn't feel any pain coursing through his arm. That spell was a high tier one; and that he could tell, since Mitsuru's best healing spell was actually just Dia. But whatever that spell that Minato used was much stronger than that.

Again, he asked himself, what happened to Minato?

* * *

**AN: Whooa, I'm on fire. Because I seriously just finished the eleventh chapter to this thing and I'm veeery surprised that I'm managing to get so much done for this story even though it isn't my completely main fic. Anyways, plz box me yo thoughts, I'd appreciate it!**

**Imma see ya guys later.**

**Droffats: I can see that indeed. I kinda don't mind anymore since people misspell my name all the time.**  
**Don't worry about it. Meh. So what?**  
**You don't have to, but if you really want to, I'd appreciate it. I usually wait on a few people to review before I post. Probably four or three and then I'd be happy to update again.**  
**Haha. Hope you like this chapter now.**

**Yoshikunitsu: Really? Aw, thanks!**  
**I'm thinking of adding in Greek letters now that you mention that… Combination spells are awesome, as are Fusion Spells. The way that they do Fusion Spells is… it's different.**  
**Yeah, it's true. Though he doesn't fight like that a lot anymore since Hamuko and he are so strong. They know they are. I wonder if THAT'S foreboding now?**  
**Of course, as always. I will.**

**Nights: Of course. Minato and Hamuko are no ordinary protagonists. Of course she would be. Natural reaction, no?**  
**I hope I can think of more.**  
**Mmhm. Nice and short. I can't wait to get to another one actually.**


	11. Positive Tension

"You should know by now that wisdom and information in any situation is paramount to getting to your goals easier. Knowing as many details about a situation is paramount to making sure that you are not misinformed and getting you as close to your goal as you can. You brats before were quite brash and reckless, especially the older of you two. While your headstrong approach as at least admirable, it could get you killed. You know to think and you should think to know."

…

Minato trudged his way upstairs finding that it was getting progressively harder to try and lift up his feet at every step that he needed to climb. It felt a little bit like the situation that he was trying to walk himself into, but he felt that talking to someone and apologizing is much harder than just trying to climb up a set of stairs.

And for him, it definitely was. The last time that he could really remember at least trying to apologize was a few days ago to Yukari. Well, at least his memory wasn't as bad as he made it out to be, but what about his speech? Every time he needed Hamuko to try and discern the situation from anything else. He needed her around to be able to properly hold up a conversation with pretty much anyone, the only exception that he had so far being Akihiko. But that was only one person out of many.

Yet, Minato still found himself to the doors that led up to the command room. He truly wondered how things were going to go. He could only assume that they may have wanted to talk to him concerning the summoning last night and how easily Hamuko and he decimated the Shadow. Minato couldn't imagine anything else of interest.

You know, because the chairman of the board and Mitsuru-san of all people would've liked to know about how school was that day.

Speaking of which, his day at school was… it wasn't really the best thing that could've happened. He didn't like school anymore. Not for the typical reasons either. Most people hated school because it gave them extra work that they didn't want to do and because the teachers sucked at their jobs. Well, he could only think of one teacher that absolutely sucked at his job and that was Ekoda. He really couldn't classify that man as a teacher when all he did was ramble on and on about how 'awesome' classic literature was. Which for Minato, simply wasn't.

He could swear at school that more people were eyeing them than he actually wanted. Like… the teacher. He wasn't quite sure whether it was his imagination or not, but whenever he was in composition he felt like Toriumi-sensei was favouring him slightly. Whenever someone did something wrong like sleeping in class (which he did often) they would usually be forced to buy her some expensive cake before they were forgiven. But Minato, of all people, actually never got caught out for sleeping in composition when all others did.

Who was he kidding? Of course he knew that Toriumi-sensei favoured him. But for whatever reason, he couldn't possibly fathom.

Anyways, he grasped one of the handles of the command room doors, and pushed it inwards, finding that it was lit, a mainframe for… something, and everyone else sitting there already. They were waiting for him, it appeared. But it didn't seem that he was all too late. Maybe just by a minute or so.

Without a word, he sat himself down next to Hamuko. Mitsuru, Yukari, Akihiko and the chairman were all there too.

"Now that we are all here, I believe that it would be prudent to inform both of you here," Mitsuru said smoothly, sending acknowledging glances at Hamuko and Minato. "Your skills as Persona users are simply remarkable. Never before has any one of us encountered Persona users as strong as you two."

Minato nodded slowly, willing himself not to say anything to say anything scathing. It was difficult, because it was so easy to snap at that remark. However, he did know that from her tone, she meant no disrespect. Mitsuru still held a solemn tone as she spoke, and it was just enough for Minato not to say anything.

"So I guess that means you are Persona users too?" Hamuko asked curiously as she looked over the remaining people.

"Yeah. Except for him," Akihiko explained, pointing his thumb to Ikutsuki.

"Yes, unfortunately I don't have a Persona," Ikutsuki sighed, "though I'm still awake in the Dark Hour."

"Dark Hour?" Minato asked unsurely.

"I think he means Blood Hour," Hamuko giggled slightly. "Think it's a better name or no?"

Minato merely shrugged. Names were just names, and he was more used to calling it the Blood Hour, but he felt that he should go along with that name instead. Dark Hour… It did have a better ring to it. It reminded him of a movie that he watched, but he wasn't sure what, or why. He guessed that it was just something to figure out later. "I'll go along with it," Minato sighed.

"Well now, seeing as you already have a name, it raises the question; how long have you two been active in the Dark Hour for?" Mitsuru asked.

"Decade or something of the sort, right?" Hamuko asked Minato for confirmation, earning a nod from him.

"Yeah. Ten years. Ten years since it started, ten years since everything went out of whack," Minato mumbled, albeit still clear enough for the people in the room to hear.

Yukari's eyes widened as she listened to what Minato said. They had been active for that long? What was even stranger to her… they were that used to Shadows and the Dark Hour already?

Akihiko's eyes widened. He never knew that either of the siblings had been aware of it all for so long. It was no wonder that the way that he first set eyes on them, that they were all messed up like they were. He remembered them not ever saying a word back at the orphanage, and how they always stayed together, no matter what. Akihiko felt that he may have just underestimated the bond that was shared between Hamuko and Minato. If they had been Persona users for almost that long, then it could only mean that they were as close as close could get.

Mitsuru kept a stiff upper lip before she continued. "I see… Another question. How long have you two been Persona users?"

"Almost as long as we've experienced the Dark Hour," Hamuko answered instantly. "We're so good at working together, pretty much no Shadow is a match for us!" she said, a smirk making its way onto her face. Even though Hamuko was the more cheerful of the two siblings, she too shared a love for finding strong opponents now that they had gotten so strong, much like Minato, but to a lesser extent.

"Bit cocky there, aren't you?" Minato commented with a slight smile. Earning him yet another punch on the shoulder.

Yukari watched the two of them interact. They were all so at least nonchalant about Shadows and the fighting by itself, and they even seemed to have some sort of competitiveness when it came to battling Shadows. And she also noticed the way that Minato spoke to Hamuko. He was so much more casual and less high strung.

Mitsuru looked on between the two of them with a slightly surprised expression before she managed to continue. "I see… I have a proposal for the two of you, if you would listen."

"What is it?" Minato asked.

"You see, our group, SEES is a group dedicated to eradicating Shadows and getting rid of the Dark Hour. Since I think you already know, only Persona users are able to fight against Shadows to any kind of effect," Ikutsuki continued on Mitsuru's explanation. "Would you be interested in putting a vested effort into helping SEES find out more about the Dark Hour, and hopefully even getting rid of it?"

Glances were exchanged between Minato and Hamuko before they answered. "I suppose we could help… so long as we get to stay together. Neither of us looked forward to being moved apart to different dorms anyways," Minato sighed. He may have answered for the two of them, but it was also because he couldn't help but feel that something was a little bit off. He couldn't figure out what exactly, but it worried him.

"Done!" Ikutsuki smiled. "I'm glad that you two would like to give it… a shot," he chuckled.

"…Ikutsuki-san," Hamuko sighed.

"What is it?"

"We don't get it," she elaborated.

Akihiko groaned before he said, "You see, we Persona users… we can't summon automatically like you did when you were fighting against that Shadow from last night. We summon using these," he sighed, opening a metal briefcase and showing them the metallic gun inside.

And with that, Hamuko sent a withering glare to Ikustuki as she got the joke. And what a joke it was.

Not.

"Ikutsuki-san… I'm going to say this as plainly as I can," Hamuko breathed out slowly, trying to calm her nerves. Ikutsuki sent an intrigued look at her, waiting for what she was going to say. "That joke was horrible."

A pall of silence filled the air as Hamuko said that, and Ikutsuki pushed up his glasses as he flinched from her critique.

"…Thank you for considering this," Mitsuru said as she broke the ice once again, "I almost didn't think that you two would, considering the circumstances," she smiled slightly.

Minato nodded at that, trying to push the after-taste of that pun from his mind. Forget, forget, forget beam. "It's nothing. If we weren't able to do what we usually did during… the Dark Hour," he said, trying out the term out loud. "We probably would've gone off your radars."

"Oh right! I just remembered! Can you take off the camera thingies in our rooms? It's a bit unnerving," Hamuko exclaimed.

Another moment of silence fell before Mitsuru nodded slowly. She was having a bit of trouble trying to figure out how they knew that they were watching them… "Of course. We won't need them again," Mitsuru answered.

"Thank you! So uh… is this all it?" Hamuko asked.

"Yes, I believe that we are finished here. I think you should all get some rest now," Mitsuru agreed.

With that, the members of the newly known SEES dispersed from the command room and went back to their own quarters.

However, Mitsuru and Minato were left behind in the room. Mitsuru seemed to still have some business to get to, and Minato still had the thing that he had to tell her about on his mind. He was actually amazed that he didn't snap at all during that meeting, when he was sure that he would have at least once. And most of all… he didn't snap at Mitsuru.

"Kirijo-san," Minato said softly, making her look up from her work.

"What is it, Arisato? I thought that you were going to go back to your room?" Mitsuru asked as she organised the papers that she was writing on.

"I-I know, it's just that…" Minato stumbled over his words as he tried to formulate a response. This was his plan, but he wasn't doing very well at this. Come on, answer her already you dolt! "I-I just wanted to say sorry for yesterday…" he said sheepishly.

Mitsuru looked at Minato with questioning eyes as she stopped her work and kept eye contact with him. She wasn't sure what to say to his earnest apology, especially when she had tried to keep her composure while she thought about his words that last night. She knew that what he had said was all right. Everything. She shouldn't have held back just because the chairman had asked her to when the two of them were seen handling the situation, and she knew that the Dark Hour was not a game. She was far too familiar and aware of the fact that the Dark Hour was not something to be trifled with.

"B-Because… I'm not very good at holding my anger back or just talking to people in general so I completely snapped and I'm really, really sorry," Minato said, staring at the ground and rocking back and forth on his heels out of nervousness. He almost couldn't believe how much he was stuttering at that moment, but so far he heard no reaction and it was starting to make him even more nervous. In fact, this was the most nervous that he had been in a long time.

"…no need to apologize. I realize that the chairman, Akihiko and I were in the wrong. It is not something you have to worry about," Mitsuru said, "What you said was true."

Minato rubbed the back of his head before saying, "I… okay." He sighed and said, "I think I might… have gotten us off on the wrong foot… and I'm sorry for that…" he stammered once more.

He held out his hand nervously and said, "Um… I'm Arisato Minato."

Mitsuru looked to him with a stern expression before it finally softened and she reciprocated his request. "I am Kirijo Mitsuru," she said, taking a firm grip of his hand after a few moments.

But she was slightly surprised. All throughout, Mitsuru was able to feel Minato's hand trembling. She could really see that it was very difficult for him to gather up his courage and his will to talk to her at least without snapping and that acting that way, if it was acting.

Minato nodded slightly before they broke off the handshake. He realized that he must've been too used to the way that you greeted people in Australia, rather than the usual bow that the Japanese displayed. "O-Oh, I guess… I'm kinda too used to my home so I… I-I'm gonna go now, goodnight!" he tried to explain, but eventually he couldn't handle himself and he almost ran out of the doors.

Mitsuru looked at the curious sight before shaking her head. Minato was at least interesting…

And for Minato, there was one thing on his mind that stuck out when he left the room and closed the door behind him besides the fact that he managed to get through that awkward conversation:

He felt Alilat, an Empress Persona, stirring within him…

* * *

**AN: The motivation is startling. Welp, the end of this chapter was fun to write. Hope you guys like it too. Plz box me yo thoughts, I'd appreciate it!**

**Imma see ya guys later.**

**Irie: It's not THAT interesting.**

**Raidou: Sure will.**

**Droffats: It's not that interesting. It's what happens after that's more important this time.**  
**Yup.**  
**Ah, I see. Cipher. I try to review the fics that I feel deserve them when I can and I'm not feeling lazy. And believe me, when I'm not lazy, my reviews are something crazy of a storm. And that's why I'm RG. Oh geez, my rambling. But still, thanks! I always like reading reviews. Especially the longer ones.**  
**Everything's better with music. I always listen to music while I'm writing.**

**Yoshikunitsu: I'm just going with Greek because it's more thematic this way. We are after all, talking about Greek figures and gods around here!**  
**You can only imagine what's going to come for them, right? Oh you'll see, you'll see…**  
**Thanks. I felt that as a new member, it would be something that Yukari would feel. She is a newbie after all, and seeing that much power being displayed would be quite… overwhelming.**

**Nights: Yeah. I'm actually surprised you missed out on that opportunity myself, but I guess then that Mitsuru's and Minato's relationship in DAC wouldn't get anywhere. Oh well.**  
**Nah, they're not that bad. Anymore.**  
**Of course! Why wouldn't she? Wouldn't you like a cute girl on the internet to give you hugs all the time?**  
**Sure will!**


	12. Heroes Of Our Time

"Why are you getting stronger? Have you asked yourself this before? The looks on your faces tell me that you haven't. How foolish. Brazen, yet foolish. There is something to be said about gaining power. When you have it, you should know what you are going to do with it. After all, power without purpose is useless. Find your purpose. Temper it. Put it to the test. Use it to help you gain power. That is any good lesson to any kind of knowledge or power that you seize!"

…

Junpei looked around nervously as the world around him turned a sickening green, blood replaced all water and coffins took the places of the people that filled the mall around him. Probably unawares workers coming back from a late night shift or perhaps were going to one.

But that didn't matter to Junpei. He was confused.

Everything about the atmosphere felt wrong to him.

The first wave of nausea passed over him, almost making him double over from the thickness of the blanket that was cast over the world that he once knew. The first breath that he took in the Dark Hour tasted like the rust from iron; unpleasant and harsh on his throat and lungs. The first thing that he saw was the endless sea of green that stretched out before his eyes and the haphazard shadows that were thrown around the convenience store. The first thing that he smelled was the scent of blood and the murkiness of sewage water, as if it matched the shades of sap green. The first thing that he touched was sticky scarlet blood and the moistened floor.

All in that split second where everything associated with light disappeared and darkness prevailed like a magician pulling the curtains over a magic trick, Junpei felt a foreboding like none other than he had ever experienced in his life before. Whatever it was, it gave an unnatural feeling and general wrong to everything that he had sensed before, much like an experiment in a science lab gone wrong and mutating beyond recognisable bounds.

Now he was stuck and confused. And most of all, he was scared, even if he wouldn't admit it to anyone unless there was some good reason to.

All throughout the Dark Hour he was in the store, shivering as he felt presences that he should not have, haunting the outside like ghosts of some sort, grazing over his skin and sending shivers down his back every time that they even so much as poked or prickled over his skin.

Junpei breathed out slowly, finding his breath warm with fear and anticipation. He was trying to calm himself down, but to no avail. To him it seemed like the world was stopped in time for an eternity or more with no-one with him to help but the crawling creeps that slithered around his body as if he were slowly being dipped into cool water.

That is, until surprise jumped onto his shoulders as he heard someone opening the door to the store. Junpei backed himself against the wall, not caring about the sticky, yet dried blood on his hand which had come from the puddle that had mysteriously formed beneath it. The mixed fear from the very matter of the Dark Hour and the person that had just entered the store coalesced into one huge ball of terror, making Junpei extremely jumpy and nervous.

A figure emerged from the pall of darkness cast over in small scraps, cutting through the rusty air with seemingly a great amount of confidence.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Junpei heard.

There was something about that voice that struck him as somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place where he had encountered it. It sounded like a guy's voice, that much he could tell. It was probably a person there, right?

"Hey, are you okay?" he heard once more. There were the silver eyes; that he could see. Generally pale. Wait! He had seen this guy before!

"U-Uh…?" Junpei gulped, feeling the dryness in the harsh air affecting his voice. He hadn't spoken for almost an hour after all.

"Hey! We should get out of here. We better get someplace safe. What's your name?" the man asked with a quickness and sharpness to his tone.

"J-Junpei," he said, stumbling over the scares in his words.

"Junpei? Alright then Junpei, we need to get out of here. Follow me," the figure said. "I'm Akihiko."

…

Hamuko waited around at the door. Apparently she heard from Yukari that there was going to be another member joining their cause. Another Persona user huh? She briefly wondered about who it could be. She hoped that the person was at least nice and friendly to everyone, and that maybe they as a team could get along.

She was interrupted from her musings when she heard the door cracking open and in the frame, two oddly familiar people standing there. "Hey, 'sup?" she heard.

"Junpei-kun?" Hamuko smiled as she looked, finding her capped friend standing right there. She wondered how on earth he was found by Akihiko-senpai, but still. He was here and that was what mattered for now.

"Hamu-tan? What are you doing here? You're part of this whole shenanigan too?" Junpei said with his trademark grin. He had certainly not been expecting to see Hamuko there at the dorm that had the basic defenders of justice against the Dark Hour and all that jazz. Especially Hamuko. He never expected that a girl like her could ever be in that kind of squad.

"Yup! So is my nii-san," Hamuko said, indicating her brother who had just come down from upstairs to find out who the new member was.

"Yo," Minato said casually, but not saying anything more. Don't. Act. Like. A douche. That aside, he was actually wondering about Junpei. True, he could see that SEES desperately needed members and all, but Junpei he could see was pretty brash. And the fact that brashness could be punished severely from his teacher had definitely stuck, as if the message was like an addendum to his very internal flesh. It was that scary and bad.

But then again, there was Yukari. Yukari while bubbly from what he had seen in Hamuko's conversations with her, he sensed that she too was quite weak and had not even once summoned her Persona in order to aid anyone. But supposing the method which the original members of SEES used to summon their Persona was basically forcing them out form their skulls by pointing a fake gun to their heads, he guessed that it definitely would be difficult with that kind of method.

At least Junpei didn't seem as fazed as he could have been.

"Wow. So that's why…" Junpei trailed off as he spotted yet another familiar face; that is, Yukari's shocked one.

"What's he doing here!?" Yukari asked, clearly not taking the consequences of this new member very well.

"He's our new member," Akihiko said as he stepped through the door. "This is Junpei Iori. He's in your grade, right?" he asked, glancing at Yukari and Hamuko.

"He's in our class actually!" Hamuko cheered. "I hope we'll work well together Junpei-kun!"

"You too Hamu-tan!" Junpei grinned, pushing his cap up.

"But are you sure that you're okay with this? I mean…" Yukari started. "It's Junpei after all!"

Junpei gave Yukari a wounded expression before saying an indignant, "Hey!"

"Come on Junpei! If you follow along with us, you'll all be fine!" Hamuko smiled confidently. It was confidence not misplaced either. Minato and she were the strongest Persona users in the group after all, and they would do everything that they would need to in order to protect them.

Minato actually smiled slightly. There was one thing that he was especially used to, and that was protecting Hamuko. For most planned Shadow attacks that Hamuko came up with, Minato was the brawn and Hamuko the brains. Surely, Minato could think like her, but Hamuko had the sharper and faster mind. That was why when she was formulating plans his job was to protect her at all costs.

"Trust Hamuko on this one. We're no pushovers," Minato smirked. "And I can say that if you did follow along with us, you'd be stronger than you could imagine."

"What do you mean by that?" Junpei asked with a sceptical expression.

"I mean, that my sword's at your throat in the split second that you blinked," Minato chuckled, removing his blade from Junpei's throat.

Junpei's eyes widened and he reflexively put his hands up.

"Just joking," Minato laughed, as he sheathed his sword.

"Minato," Hamuko deadpanned at her brother.

"Huh-?"

A resounding smack echoed as Minato was down on the ground with a considerable bump on his forehead and a bruise on his cheek.

"Your sense of humour is awful!" she pouted. "Junpei-kun, Yukari-chan? Don't worry! We'll find a way to make you guys strong as well!"

Akihiko made his way over to Minato, who had seemingly passed out from the forceful punch that Hamuko gave him. "Dude, you okay?" he asked, grabbing a fan out of nowhere and fanning air onto Minato's face, hoping that it would make him stir.

Yukari flinched as she saw what Hamuko single-handedly did to her brother. She was unbelievably strong…

And Junpei was gobsmacked. Partly at the fact that her punch did that to her physically stronger brother and that she even did that to Minato.

"I think it would be best to get your stuff to your room," Yukari tried to break the silence.

"Y-Yeah, I think that would be best," Junpei smiled nervously.

With that, Hamuko and Junpei carried up his luggage to his room while Hamuko told him about the conventions of the dorm.

Akihiko was still busy trying to wake Minato from his unconscious state. That punch had knocked him out hard.

…

After a few minutes when Minato had finally recovered and everyone had finished moving Junpei's things to his room, all of the Persona users had gathered in the lobby to discuss what they were planning to do that night.

"Now that we have enough members, we think that it would be safe enough to start looking into… that place," Akihiko smiled slightly.

"Huh?" Junpei asked.

"You haven't seen it Junpei?" Yukari asked with a questioning gaze.

"I don't know Yukari-chan! Neither Minato nor I have seen this 'place' that Akihiko-senpai's been mentioning," Hamuko said with a small amount of pout.

"It's not a surprise. It only appears during the Dark Hour after all," Mitsuru explained. "We will be investigating this place for clues about the Dark Hour, why it exists, among other things that we could examine at the scene. It is the tower known as Tartarus," she said.

"Tartarus? Sounds like toothpaste," Junpei said.

"It kinda does!" Hamuko laughed, giving Junpei a hi-five. Not that he really knew why.

Yukari groaned at the comments between the two of them while Akihiko merely chuckled and Mitsuru kept a blank face as usual.

However for Minato, that word had struck a few chords in his memory, as it did Hamuko's. They vaguely remembered their teacher discussing Greek Mythology among other things, and Tartarus was in it. "She means the deepest depths of the Greek Underworld," Minato chuckled.

"It was not named by me," Mitsuru sighed. "In any case, we will be sending a team into the tower in order to investigate and explore. We haven't been able to look into much of Tartarus because of our limited resources…"

"But now we have six able-bodied Persona users between all of us to help. We can send a team in there safely now," Akihiko explained.

"I see," Minato nodded slightly. "Well, I guess we better get prepared."

…

Hours later, the team of students made their ways to the gates of…

Their school.

"If this is Tartarus somehow then school is the root of all evil!" Hamuko exclaimed as she peered through the locked gates of Gekkoukan high school.

Yukari cringed at the joke while Junpei laughed a little at that. However… "But seriously, why are we at school? This can't be this Tartarus thingy that you're talking about!"

"Just wait a bit," Akihiko said, looking down at his watch.

Minato waited for the Dark Hour to fall once again as the clock's hands ticked slowly to the very top of the watch.

In a matter of moments, the usual Dark Hour feeling had passed, but there was one very decidedly different thing about their surroundings. A series of groans and creaks of grinding metal filled the air, and from the school a series of towers and structures rose high up into the green sky, that looked too haphazard and monstrous to be real. They didn't look as if they were structurally sound and twisted and coiled around it to reach the middle of the aged moon that it stood in front of.

And it was because of this that large shadows were thrown around the front and that SEES' forms were covered in darkness.

Yukari and Junpei gasped as they watched the tower rise, while Akihiko and Mitsuru stood impassively at the large tower that was Tartarus.

However, to Hamuko, she could feel something calling to her. A man's voice.

To Minato, he heard a low female voice speak within his mind.

But the things that they heard were the same:

"Welcome to Tartarus."

* * *

**AN: Whew, more chapters. This chapter was a bit hard to decide on a viewpoint on at first, but I decided that I should bring Junpei in now. Besides, who DOESN'T love Junpei? *wind whistles* Oh okay, never mind. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, even if not that much happens. Also yes, I listen to Dragonforce. Fucking awesome.**

**Plz box me yo thoughts, I'd appreciate it.**

**Imma see you guys later.**

**Yoshikunitsu: Yup! Training from his mysterious sensei has made him especially strong, along with Hamuko!**  
**Yyyup! It is, kind of. It's nothing that no-one who didn't have training couldn't notice.**  
**That is pretty true… I think I should work on that a bit more. But then again, neither of the siblings has shown the full extent of their power yet. I think what's more amazing is how in sync they are, personally. **  
**Thanks! I felt like it should be something a bit more shuffled to the side and not as big of a deal. I mean, is it really? A Social Link notification just gives a general measure, but I believe that Social Links should really be just infinitely long. You're still going to keep harnessing the trust between you and your friends wouldn't you; even the ones that you know pretty well?**  
**Mmhm. There's certainly more to come.**  
**Sure will.**

**Raidou: Thanks! I try my best.**

**Kronos: Well, they do, don't they? But I suppose I could make pretty bad jokes if I wanted to. Ah, puns are awesome…**  
**Yeah, that was way fun to write. I'm going to try and keep their relationship as slow as possible, so it'll just be humour for a long, long time.**  
**I'll try my best!**

**Droffats: Probably wouldn't have fit the situation. Maybe another time if they get into an argument.**  
**Haha, I see. Well, I'm going to try and cover as many viewpoints in this fic as possible and make it as detailed as I can. That's why Junpei was focused on for a bit!**  
**Oh really? I'm honoured. **  
**Hmmm… I see. I'll go look that up later because I wanna know what you're talking about.**

**Nights: I know! It kinda does!**  
**Just a little bit. This relationship should be taken slowly, ne? Maybe later when he gets more confident!**  
**Alright den!**  
**Sure will!**


	13. Through The Fire And The Flames

"There is something to be said… about speed. Speed is subjective. It can be slow, or it could be fast. However, there is one definite thing that you would need to know in order to use speed to your advantage. You need to know when to be slow, and you need to know when to be fast. It is much like power. You need to know when to use it, when not to, and even how much to use. Thinking about it makes more situations make sense, does it not?"

…

Minato and Hamuko stepped into the tower with the rest of the team. They trailed behind, taking in the strange atmosphere that surrounded the tower, and listening a little to the small voices that seemed to be welcoming them into Tartarus.

When they finally stepped in, Minato swore that he felt this strange coldness start to wash over him, and it seemed to awaken some bad memories as he remembered the events of the Moonlight Bridge again. While most of the memories that he had of the Moonlight Bridge were at least somewhat clear, when he stepped into the doors of Tartarus, he swore that his vision of those memories that were playing through his head were clearer than before. Not in sight, but in the feelings that were racing through his mind. He could feel the fear dominating his senses, and the helplessness as he watched them.

For Hamuko, a strange heat rushed through her body, and that too started to awaken her memories of the Moonlight Bridge like Minato had. She remembered that when that monster disappeared a strange power began to fill both of their bodies and that there was that very same sensation when they passed through that 'gate.'

'Gate?'

Minato and Hamuko finally snapped to attention once they heard Junpei and Yukari speak again, and they returned their focuses to what was going on around them.

The 'lobby' was impressive and mysterious, with the checked tiles on the floor, the golden pillars that held the ceiling up, apparitions appearing where the floor seemed to end, only to find that they were visions hidden behind some kind of invisible wall that let them see the jade green wisps that floated through the darkness. 'Souls' were they?

Hamuko shook her head. What exactly was filling her head with these terms?

The golden clock that seemed to hold the entrance to a 'labyrinth' stood tall at the top of a small flight of glassy stairs, and to the side of it was a 'bank.'

She shook her head, listening to the explanations that Akihiko and Mitsuru were giving them about Tartarus.

"This is the interior of Tartarus. Up that flight of stairs is the entrance to a maze. We want you to investigate the next floor in order to help you all get a feel for what is up ahead. We are aiming to get the top, and while this is happening, it is possible that we may gather some information about the Shadows and the Dark Hour itself," Mitsuru explained.

"Wait, you aren't going to go with us?" Yukari exclaimed.

"The structure of Tartarus and the maze above, change every day. Because of this, support is imperative," Mitsuru said. "But do not worry too much. Akihiko will be going with you to make sure that you are safe, not to mention that we have both Arisatos on our side to help defend you against any Shadow attacks," she reassured them, a small smile appearing on her lips.

"We might be able to find some information here about the Shadows, mostly because this is a huge Shadow nest. Shadows are everywhere here," Akihiko smirked. "It is also gonna be some good training since we can fight off the weaker Shadows and help to make you guys stronger."

"I-I see," Yukari said nervously.

"Wow, that's pretty cool! Lemme at 'em then!" Junpei grinned.

"Before you get ahead of yourselves, you should pick out some weapons. Even if Personae are able to deal the most damage to Shadows, using them too much can cause stress on your body," Akihiko chuckled, dropping the bag that he had been carrying onto the ground. From what they all heard, it seemed pretty heavy if the clanking metal and weight was any indication.

"Whoa, what's in there!?" Junpei said. "Swords?" he grinned, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Yeah, we have a few things that we can get you to use," Akihiko nodded.

"I already have a sword that I can use!" Hamuko said proudly, unsheathing her sword. Like Minato's it was in impeccable condition, from it a soft, silvery light coming from the blade.

"Wow, Hamu-tan! It looks really good! Where'd you get it?" Junpei asked.

The rest of the members were actually wondering where Hamuko could have gotten such a good quality sword. It wasn't as if you could just find a sword like that lying around in your local Junes or something. Or at all, really.

"Eh, if we told you where we got it, you wouldn't believe us. All you need to know is that it's deadly," Hamuko smiled slightly as she sheathed her sword.

"What about you Minato-senpai?" Yukari asked. "You have two sheathes on your belt…"

Minato looked up with a cutting glare before two swords practically flashed into existence in his hands. Of course, it was just all quick hand movement. In his right hand, he held his longer sword, while in the other he held the other, more dagger-like blade. "That's right," he said quietly. "My style's different to Hamuko's. It's a lot more… deadly," he smirked.

A shiver went down everyone's spines, except for Hamuko who merely sighed. "Stop trying to intimidate them nii-san," she groaned before punching Minato on the shoulder. Thankfully for Minato, he had anticipated that and he had already switched to a Persona that nulled strike damage.

Minato's face fell into a sheepish grin before he went quiet and turned around.

"Anyways, I think I'll take the bow," Yukari said. She was in the archery club, so it made sense for her. And she was pretty accurate too, so it definitely could help.

"Katanas are for men!" Junpei exclaimed as he picked out a katana, but to Hamuko's surprise/dismay, he was holding it like a baseball bat.

What Minato saw when he turned around was… a Velvet Room door? What the hell was it doing there? He quickly shrugged off the thought and made a mental note to visit the Velvet Room later in order for them to explain what the hell this door was doing in Tartarus.

"So, now that we have that sorted out, we should pick a leader. While we're in there, we need to be organized," Akihiko said.

"Ooh, ooh me! Hey, pick me!" Junpei exclaimed, jumping with excitement.

Akihiko cringed, seeing Junpei, before he said, "Would either of you two want to be leader?"

Minato and Hamuko snapped to attention, and they looked at each other with an understanding gaze. "If you're planning on this, maybe we can do a switching system for us two. We can't really be there at the same time, otherwise something's probably going to get damaged," Hamuko laughed a little.

Junpei's eyes widened. "Why you two?" he asked.

Minato sighed before he said simply, "Because, we're the strongest Persona users here."

"Yeah… they're the strongest Persona users that we've seen. They're already used to summoning Persona, and fighting against Shadows," Yukari said in their defence.

"They are?" Junpei said with a surprised tone.

"Yeah. Or do you wanna argue with us?" Minato growled, killing intent starting to leak off him in rolling waves.

Hamuko turned to Minato before she punched him in the face again. "What did I say about trying to be intimidating Minato?" she deadpanned at him as he was again, knocked to the ground.

This time, he wasn't unconscious and he got up again. "Fine," he muttered.

"Anyways! I'm used to being a leader and planning attacks, so you can count on me if you need my help!" Hamuko said proudly.

Minato wiped off the pain that he was feeling in his cheek with a small Dia spell. "Too big of teams could make it very, very messy and more prone to accidents. Teams of four would be good, since it would include Hamuko, Akihiko, Yukari and Junpei…" he mumbled.

"Huh, you read my mind. Yeah, we were planning to go in groups of four so we can get some mobility going and to even out space and to have enough man power," Akihiko nodded.

Junpei's face fell into a scowl.

"Don't look at us like that," Minato sighed. "You guys can't summon like we can, and it's a whole lot of stress to put a gun to your head and pull the trigger."

Yukari flinched as she looked down at her Evoker. That was right. Up until now, or really, any moment at all, she had never been able to successfully summon her Persona.

"True," Akihiko said. "You think you can pull the trigger? In the heat of battle there isn't any kind of waiting. You can't stop if you're scared to pull the trigger. You do… you die," Akihiko smirked, putting his own Evoker to his head.

Junpei flinched and gulped as he looked at the Evoker that was given to him. "O-Of course I can!"

"In the heat of battle, overconfidence can get you killed," Minato muttered as he remembered his teacher. And he had learnt that idea well into his very body's memory enough times to know that while confidence was good, too much of it could get him seriously injured or worse.

"You know, sometime, we're going to have to teach them how to summon Persona on their own," Hamuko said, looking on at the situation.

…

After they had been able to sort out through their arguments earlier, they had finally entered through another 'gate' to get through to the maze that they were going to go through.

Hamuko was leading them this time, and the rest of the team; Akihiko, Yukari and Junpei followed behind close to her in case they got attacked.

While Hamuko had said that she had led operations before to get rid of a lot of Shadows at a time, she wasn't used to leading multiple members at the same time. It was a nerve wracking, and she prayed to her sensei that she wouldn't mess this up. That was right. She needed some confidence here.

She couldn't afford to freeze up now especially after all of that bravado that she had. She plugged in her communicator in her ear, hearing the soft hum of a blank channel, much like one on a TV. That is, before a 'click' sounded up and Mitsuru started to speak. "Can you all hear me?"

"Loud and clear senpai!" Hamuko replied.

"Yeah, I can hear you," Yukari said.

Akihiko said, "I can hear."

"You got it senpai!" Junpei grinned.

"Good. This is your first time exploring Tartarus, so we will only be going as far as the first floor. Be sure to let yourself get a good feel for this place, and be on guard at all times," Mitsuru warned.

"Sure will!" Hamuko nodded. "So guys! Do you all know about Shadow weaknesses?"

Akihiko's eyes widened as she asked. He was surprised that Hamuko would be the one to teach the rookies about it at the start, rather than Mitsuru.

Yukari shook her head, but Junpei said, "Like Pokemon?"

"Yup Junpei! Shadows are kind of like Pokemon, but there's a little bit more to it than that," Hamuko smiled.

"That is true. There are nine weaknesses that we know of and we categorize them. There are three physical weaknesses, slash, pierce and strike. I'm sure it will be easy to see with your weapons which type of attack is which," Mitsuru explained. "There are six other elemental weaknesses and they are wind, fire, ice, electricity, light and dark."

"Pretty obvious, right?" Hamuko said, looking for the team's reactions. Akihiko had a fairly blank expression on his face, however Yukari didn't look so sure.

Junpei however nodded sagely and said, "I think I can remember that! Those are less types than Pokemon!"

"Yup! But there are a few others that you might not know of!" Hamuko cheered.

"Other types of weaknesses?" Akihiko asked, very interested in what they could be. It wasn't like they knew that there were any other kinds of weaknesses that could be found in Shadows.

"Yup! There's water, force, earth, gravity, havoc and lastly, the most powerful type of all, Almighty!" Hamuko grinned. She was finding it easier to relay to everyone what she was trying to get at than she thought it would've been. "But you won't find a lot of Shadows like that, so I'll just explain it if it comes up," Hamuko reassured them.

"Hm, those are some new things that I can add to the list," Mitsuru said quietly.

"Still not as many as Pokemon," Junpei nodded. "Awesome! So, when are we gonna get to fight?"

"Just be patient," Akihiko said.

Yukari merely muttered under her breath about video games and not knowing anything about them, but she kept most of it to herself. Hamuko was more into video games than she would've thought. But then again, it really shouldn't have surprised her, after all the new things that she was learning about Hamuko and Minato.

"Yup! When we play with these Shadows, we wanna get the jump on them! They don't show any mercy and neither should we," Hamuko said seriously. "Now, let's get moving. Mitsuru-senpai said to get a feel for the place, so let's do that. We should stay together because of it so we can get used to fighting Shadows too. We wouldn't want to get overwhelmed, right?"

With that, the team set off around the floor. With a small lesson on stealth, the team managed to move quietly through the corridors. "All of you, be careful. There's a group of Shadows near by," Mitsuru warned them.

Hamuko nodded to herself before she turned to the team. "So, anyone wanna try getting a pre-emptive attack?"

"Ooh, ooh, me!" Junpei grinned, before Hamuko put her finger to her lip, telling him to quiet down a little, earning a sheepish smile from the capped teen.

"Alright Junpei. Just remember, be dead silent when you approach them, and then get the blob from behind with your sword," Hamuko smiled, as if she had full confidence in Junpei that he could do it.

And it was that encouragement that gave Junpei what he needed to do his job right. Somehow, in Hamuko's smile, there was something that made him want to give all and do this pre-emptive attack to the best of his ability. Junpei inched to the back of the wall, keeping his katana close and waiting for the Shadow to turn around so that it wouldn't see him when he came running.

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

Now.

Junpei jumped onto the clumps of Shadow with a downwards cut from his katana. "You did it Junpei! Alright then! Time to engage the enemy!" Hamuko said happily.

With that, the team spread out around the three Shadows that had dispersed from the black clump, trapping them in a square-like formation despite the slightly narrow corridors of the maze.

"This is your first battle with Shadows, Takeba, Iori," Mitsuru said. "Be careful. I will scan the enemies for weaknesses if you need me to, Arisato."

"Don't worry about it! Junpei!" Hamuko called. "Summon your Persona! I know you can do it!"

Junpei's eyes widened before he reached for the Evoker in his holster, and raised the metallic gun to his temple. "A-Alright!" he stammered. He felt his heart pounding in his ears, and he was sweating bullets as he had that gun to his head, but Hamuko said that he could do it. He would do it.

"Persona!" he grinned as he finally pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The impulse that the Evoker sent shot through his mental barriers, the glass that made it up swirling around him along with the spiritual energy that appeared as pale blue mist. He felt like he was on cloud nine summoning it, and it felt so natural to him.

Hamuko smirked before she said, "Shout Agi!"

Junpei blinked once or twice before he said, "Agi!"

With that, his Persona sent a series of fireballs at one of the Shadows, leaving it open to attack. Hermes. That was its name. The armour covered humanoid raised its wings before it disappeared. He hadn't been fighting with Shadows long enough to know how to maintain it for longer periods of time, so it disappeared almost straight after using just one spell.

"Good job Junpei!" Hamuko nodded. However, there were still more Shadows to attack, and Junpei was still trying to recover from his first summoning. "Yukari-chan! Summon your Persona!"

Yukari flinched as she heard that, and she gripped her bow even tighter than before, and hesitantly reached for the Evoker that she was given. She had tried to summon before, but she was scared. Natural, indeed, but… she couldn't chicken out now. Not when Hamuko had put that much faith in her. Okay. She'd try… she'd try again!

"P-Persona!" Yukari cried.

With another blast of impulse, her very own Persona appeared behind her. Io. That was its name. "Garu!" Yukari said, shouting the first thing that came to mind. She thought that it was actually her very own Persona speaking to her and giving her the key to unlocking her powers.

With that, Io launched cutting gusts of wind at one of the Shadows that was coming closer to her, presumably to try and attack. Ultimately, the fear of getting attacked by that Shadow had helped her to summon her Persona, and the Garu spell left gashes in the Shadow and blew it back, leaving a trail of Ichor along the checked ground.

Yukari breathed in and out quickly, trying to come to grips with what had just occurred, She did it. She summoned her Persona for the first time! A small smile made its way onto Yukari's face as she realized it, and tried to recover from the summoning.

"You did an amazing job Yukari! I didn't think you'd have Garu as a spell yet, last time I checked," Hamuko smirked. "Akihiko-senpai! Wanna give a try here and summon your Persona?"

"My pleasure," Akihiko smirked as he brought the barrel of his Evoker to the bottom of his chin and pulled the trigger with little hesitation. "Polydeuces!"

Hamuko smiled. Polydeuces was one of the Gemini brothers! Maybe that was why the Gemini combination spell was the first one that Minato and she came up with? If not, it was one kind of strange coincidence that she had no problems living with.

"Sonic Punch!" Akihiko called. He felt a little of his physical energy drain from his body, and Polydeuces used that energy to fire a devastating punch with as much weight as he could handle at the Shadow that Yukari had wounded. With that, the Shadow dispersed into red and black mist, like usual.

"Awesome job Akihiko-senpai!" Hamuko smiled. "Now it's my turn!"

She channelled the thoughts of her resolve through her mind, searching through the sea of her soul for one of her most powerful Personae that had stuck with her through thick and thin. "Eurydice!" Hamuko smiled, remembering the silent promise that she had made with Minato; the same contract that granted her access to the Velvet Room.

With her, call, blue mist rose from the soles of her feet, and if she didn't know any better, the spiritual energy that flowed from her body was starting to make her levitate a little. It was something that happened; if she was using some larger amounts of Spiritual Power, it could seep into the air around her and with that, made her rise into the air slightly. It was something that Mintao had noticed after a while.

"Destroy them!" Hamuko grinned as her eyes flashed red with the SP being channelled in her body.

With a single strum of Eurydice's harp, small hot embers whizzed through the air around the Shadows, bringing the temperature up to a level of almost unbearably warm.

CRASH!

As Eurydice ran back her fingers through the harp's strings, the tiny embers bit the Shadows into tiny bits of black flesh and Ichor, and they dissipated into red mist.

"That's how you do it!" Hamuko smirked.

* * *

**AN: MOAR DRAGONFORCE! Man, that song in the chapter title's epic. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I had a bit (a lot) of trouble trying to remember the game dialogue, but I eventually went 'screw it' and that's how the speech came out. Hopefully it's okay?**

**Plz box me yo thoughts, I'd appreciate it!**

**Imma see ya guys… later.**

**Nights: Thanks! I enjoyed bringing that scene with Junpei to life. Anyone who hadn't experienced the Dark Hour before would be really nervous, and scared, right?**  
**Yeah. Hamuko had Siegfried equipped. Siegfried has Fist Master. See why? Also, Minato wasn't expecting it that time.**  
**Mmhm! Hope you enjoy this chapter! I certainly enjoyed writing Hamuko as the leader this time.**

**Droffats: Omakes huh? I have been thinking about it… If I feel like it, then I might.**  
**Yup! I'm trying not to neglect too many characters, but of course… that's difficult.**  
**If you say something like that, then yeah. I aim for that kind of effect when I review other people's stories.**  
**Touhou? Eh, Touhou isn't really my thing. But, I'll still keep looking, because I haven't had the time to search that yet. Horrible.**  
**Yup!**

**Raidou: Well, why WOULDN'T I rock out to Dragonforce? Haha, I dunno about that.**  
**Junpei and Hamuko are a thing. They might even become besties or something!**  
**Sure will. And hell yeah.**

**Yoshikunitsu: Yeah. I get it, but… I don't like it. It's not realistic, and it makes me feel sad seeing that.**  
**Haha, that was enjoyable to write. Siegfried for the win!**  
**Sure is. Sensei's identity will be revealed later.**  
**No. Minato and Hamuko still have a lot to learn.**  
**Yup! Hopefully indeed!**  
**Sure will.**


	14. Whispers In The Dark

"How do you think that your sister is doing, leading the team up above?" Mitsuru asked of Minato, who had since the beginning of the exploration, basically tuning out most things that were going one around him and thinking mostly about what he could do to get closer to the people that he met. Apparently it was something important and the Velvet Room told him to do something about it, so he was definitely pre-occupied.

"Probably a better job than me," Minato mumbled, leaning against one of the walls and watching the 'souls' move about in the background. There was something about the surroundings of the lobby that captivated his attention and sent it wandering around to many different thoughts, including how he was able to know about these special terms that kept popping into his head whenever he was wondering about what something was called.

"Why do you say that?" Mitsuru questioned, holding a steady gaze on Minato's. She had seen him before, completely in panic when he was speaking to her before, but somehow he had been acting much differently and the 'why' behind it was a great mystery to her.

"Because she's like a star," he answered cryptically.

Mitsuru frowned slightly. While she had been surprised at him being so nervous before, and seemingly much more open, she was now a little frustrated that Minato had such a change in demeanour; one that was cold, and standoffish, and very much unlike Hamuko's personality. He made it very difficult to talk to him, and even if there was some kind of will behind why he had been so curt, Mitsuru didn't like it.

"She's hopeful, like a person seeing a star in the sky in the city," Minato elaborated succinctly. To Minato it was a simile that made sense. It was hard to come across stars in urbanized areas because the streets were always lit up, making it bright and difficult to see any stars in the sky. When you did it was not often. "Hamuko's good at giving encouragement, so it'll be fine," Minato sighed.

"I see," Mitsuru said, keeping her uncertainty to herself. She wondered further about why Minato had closed himself so tightly shut once more. In fact, she thought that it was her imagination, but she thought that Minato was actually trying to close himself off a lot more than all the other times that he had tried interacting with almost everyone in the dorm. He normally didn't say much, but when he did, it was always like he was angry or he appeared to be quite intimidating.

However, Minato was actually trying to concentrate and listen in on the small voice that was ringing in at the back of his mind. It was a woman's, to be sure. It seemed smooth at least, perhaps almost confident. But he still wasn't that clear. There seemed to be a sliver of conceit in that voice, almost as if she was muttering about something, or someone's incompetence.

"Hello?" he asked himself quietly as caught a few words drifting in and out in volume. The voice was faint, and it was starting to make him get frustrated. But the better question would be why he was more worried about what the voice was saying rather than going to the other option and basically declaring that he was a schizophrenic.

"Oh. I did not expect for you to come into contact with me so soon, or at all, really," the voice said, suddenly becoming extremely clear, as if they were part of his very thoughts. "Interesting, but not a point to be trifled on right now," she sighed, as if the consciousness that was saying those words was extremely bored. "Anyways…"

Minato's eyes widened as he heard the words, immediately wondering from whom this voice came from, especially when it didn't sound like Mitsuru. Granted, the tone of voice was smooth, confident and at least a little aged, much like Mitsuru's, however it carried a great amount of confidence, or perhaps even conceit. Conceit sounded more accurate anyways. "Who are you?" he demanded, not daring to raise his voice if Mitsuru raised any concerns.

"Do not. Ask that of me. Especially when you have not even introduced yourself first, mortal," the voice growled, sending even the usually unfazed Minato into panic. There was something about it that made him want to submit to her commands, even though the thought of even doing so hadn't crossed his mind before she asked.

"I-I'm Minato… Arisato Minato," he stammered. He was stuttering, even within his own thoughts. That was one powerful presence.

"Good. Now, I believe I should say that I am Nyx," she said nonchalantly, already back to her more carefree, bored tone. "Welcome to my brother's halls actually. Tartarus has quite the pleasing aesthetics, does it not?"

Minato froze as she introduced herself, and in fact, her brother, even though it wasn't quite official. "I suppose," he mumbled.

"No matter. It seems that one of my sons has been slacking off… I am afraid that he has been feeling strongly about shirking his duty as the guardian of Tartarus… the Reaper, you may know him as," Nyx said with an irritated tone, almost as if she was rolling her eyes as she did.

"The Reaper is your son?" Minato asked slowly, trying to process all that 'Nyx' was telling him. He knew who Nyx from Greek Mythology was, for sure. Again, his sensei had drilled into him most of the figures in Greek Mythology and most of the more powerful deities that existed within its woven tales. Nyx was among them, and Minato's teacher emphasised how powerful she was. Nyx was the bringer of the curtain of night, by way of carriage. He even mentioned her to be a protective 'moth-'

Minato stopped himself. 'Mother?' There was something about that small thought that sent him some fear. It was the way that the thought rolled off. It was so… natural, somehow. He shook his head. It wasn't the time.

"Yes. He is more famous than me at least," Nyx sighed, "That is a point for another day. So Minato, I take it… your other sister has accepted the mantle, as have you."

"Yeah, she has," Minato replied. "What about it?" he asked unsurely.

"Well, I wish you some kind of luck on your endeavours. I do not suppose that anyone has told you about what you need to do as the Reaper…" she sighed, mumbling something about the collective consciousness.

"No, not yet," Minato said.

"I guess I have to explain. Goddamned little… Anyways, the Reaper's job is to look after Tartarus, this maze, prison and meeting point. The Reaper is supposed to look after the prisoners that reside within this tower, help along the travellers inside the tower and guide them…" Nyx explained, "Among other things that will become more apparent once you get your uniform and marker."

Minato raised an eyebrow. What was this uniform and marker that 'Nyx' was talking about? However, he felt that it probably wouldn't be best to ask now. If this was in any way connected to the Velvet Room, then he could find out later and have it better explained to him by someone that he knew well. That is, Elizabeth or Igor. "Um, I see…" he said.

"Good. So now, I believe you may be wondering why I am here," Nyx said, waiting for Minato's response as she gave him a few moments for him to agree. Because it was true. Minato had no idea what could get him so involved with Nyx well… at all, really.

"Yeah, I am," Minato replied with just about the answer that Nyx needed to continue her exposition.

"You see, things have been changing. Vague yes, but I will explain, so do not interrupt me," Nyx commanded. With that, Minato stayed silent for whatever was coming. If he knew inkling about how powerful Nyx was, then he didn't want to anger her somehow. "There are forces at work that even I do not have control over, and so this one time, it is actually my duty to assist you in righting this problem. More will be revealed in due time; you still need to become stronger. Much… much stronger than you are now."

"As you are now, you are a weakling."

Minato flinched as he heard those words. It sent shivers down his spine as she had finished. Not being strong enough? It was a scary thought. A single, steadily encroaching fear that he had just caught up with him in that moment, and he wasn't sure how to deal with it. He trained to be as strong as he could, and to push the boundaries of his limits. Now he was just told that he wasn't strong enough to deal with the upcoming threat, whatever it was. What was worse was that he couldn't bring himself to say anything.

One of his greatest fears was being weak; too weak to protect anyone.

"Blunt, was that not? A great wound, is it not?" Nyx chuckled in amusement. "Good. Feel wounded, because I do not think you can deal with it either."

Minato gulped, unable to say anything. One thing that he had with him almost all the time was hope. But somehow, he didn't feel any and it left him speechless; without any anger. It only left him with a hollow feeling, the greatest emptiness that he had felt in the longest time, and the greatest emptiness that he had been trying to avoid. It reminded him of…

"In any case, I believe I am finished with my explanations for the hour. Goodbye, Arisato," Nyx said. Minato could feel her very presence smirking, if it was possible; however the feeling faded as she and her voice disappeared.

Minato let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding, gasping for air.

He knew what her words had reminded him of.

Memories flashed through his mind, leaving him with nothing but his own body; no thoughts or mind. It was almost as if he were one of the Lost, the people that had their consciousness drained by Shadows.

He was frozen and trapped. He was weak and he couldn't do anything.

"Arisato," Mitsuru said, trying to snap him out of his daze. She had become increasingly worried as she had noticed that Minato had fallen completely and utterly silent when it came to his musings, whatever they were. She could hear him mumbling for a while, but couldn't hear what he had said, but after a while, she saw the blank expression with twitches of fear tugging at his throat as his breath was caught. Until, it finally subsided, but it seemed that he was no better off than he was before. Perhaps, even worse.

"Arisato!" she said forcefully, placing a hand on his shoulder.

No reaction.

After a while though…

"N-No… I'm weak, I'm useless, I'm worthless," he mumbled, closing his eyes tightly shut. "I can't do anything, I shouldn't… I shouldn't…"

Eventually his words trailed off as if he were trying to keep them in his mind, however he was still shivering. Everything that he feared was playing, slowly and painfully through his mind like a haunting melody, slowly unwinding the tight strings that he had kept around his memories, letting them seep out, and creep into his mind's vision.

Mitsuru bit her lip, unsure of what to do. What exactly was making him say those words? And the problem then was that she couldn't say anything. She could say that he wasn't what he was saying, but what did she know about him? Next to nothing. And yet, she couldn't let it go on. "Arisato, you are not weak or useless," she said sternly, unsure of what she could do.

"B-But…" Minato mumbled with his trembling voice barely more than a whisper. "I can't protect her…" he muttered before backing off from Mitsuru's grip, and clutching his head in his arms, almost as if he were trying to hide himself from her somehow.

Mitsuru's eyes widened. 'Protect her?'

Was he talking about Hamuko? It seemed like the only logical explanation as Hamuko was the only one that he was ever truly close to now, and he wouldn't open up to anyone else. When Hamuko was close to him, he never seemed to be like this, knowing that she was close to him. She could try coaxing him out at least, and maybe it would work. "Mitsuru-senpai!" she heard, and she could hear Hamuko's voice coming through her communicator. "I think we fully explored this floor right down to the last square metre! We're gonna be coming down in a bit, so could you tell us how to get to the lobby?"

Mitsuru gritted her teeth before replying, "You must find the green teleporter in order to re-enter the lobby. You will be warped straight down to the main pad near the entrance of the tower."

And now, she had to deal with Minato.

"Alright then! We'll get there as soon as we can!" Hamuko said happily.

What exactly was Mitsuru going to do? It wasn't as if she was Hamuko and could do the same as her. This was truly a difficult task that she had gotten herself into. But she could still try. This was a fellow comrade she was trying to help after all, so she would do as much as she could to help him, even if she didn't know him as well. "Your sister is safe, you do not need to worry," Mitsuru tried to explain.

"She's… she's okay?" Minato asked, almost pleading for an answer as he slowly but surely looked up at Mitsuru with a set of stony grey eyes.

That dead gaze of his sent shivers down Mitsuru's spine, but she held her ground. "She is fine, and she will be coming back down to the lobby soon," she said with tone as reassuring as she could make it. She wasn't all that used to comforting someone like this, but again, this was a comrade that needed more help than Akihiko or even Shinjiro.

Minato steadied his gaze and sighed what seemed to be a sigh of relief, however the fear that he was feeling and the futility still left traces. That was right; Nyx had reminded him of how he felt when his kaa-san and tou-san died. Helpless and scared. "I see…" he stammered, a slight glint of light finally appearing in his eyes again.

Mitsuru wasn't quite sure what to say at this point, but she was at least satisfied that Minato didn't seem to be as caught up in his mind as he was before.

"Nii-san!" Hamuko cheered and hugged him tightly as she came out of the teleporter and ran towards him.

"Hamuko, you're safe," he smiled slightly. "How was it?" Minato asked.

"It was pretty easy! You should be able to handle it no problem!" Hamuko grinned. "Even Junpei and Yukari say so!"

"Well actually," Junpei tried to say. "I'm beat," he groaned.

"Yeah, that was tiring," Yukari agreed. "But I think it was okay… for the first time…"

"Since it's the Dark Hour, you just gotta get used to it. It'll come with time," Akihiko assured them.

"Yes. Confidence is the best thing you could have gained. Good work," Mitsuru nodded, although she was still thinking about Minato. With a mind like his that seemed to be broken and cracked, she had to wonder how he could handle being a leader at all, even if he could fight. She didn't mention it for the rest of the meeting, but it was still at the back of her mind.

What had gone wrong?

As SEES finally left Tartarus, Minato and Hamuko could feel their very first Personae reacting…

* * *

**AN: Whew, last chapter was longer than usual. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that chapter and this one as well. The one before was a little difficult to write considering that I can't remember the game dialogue as well as someone who has played the game so… that's a thing. ALSO NYX! I won't go off on a limb and pair her with Minato though, don't worry about that if you are. Last thing, SKILLET REFERENCE! I have a thing with naming things after songs. Love that song.**

**Plz box me yo thoughts, I'd appreciate it!**

**Imma see ya guys later.**

**Nights: Bosses they are indeed. **  
**Oh right, little thing I didn't mention in the chapter… The spell that Eurydice used was actually her playing Burn My Dread. Ahaha, the references, I'm too caught up in them.**  
**Thanks. Hope this chapter was okay then.**  
**Sure will.**

**Raidou: Thanks! Though, I feel I may have brought down the mood a little with that scene. Sure will!**

**Yoshikunitsu: Yup! That is true! The question here is how, ne?**  
**I guess so. However, I'm going to try my best to make the characters come together as often as I can.**  
**Mmhm! One shot spells for the win!**  
**Sure will.**

**The Greater Foo1: Really? Haha, I'm glad you say so. I think I have too. Yay, because more things are going to happen fo sure.**


	15. Starfire

"The Goddess, or perhaps… Titan, Nyx is one of the most powerful presences to grace the human world. She, on her carriage, brings the curtain of night that shades your world, with a myriad of stars following on her trail. Needless to say, she is extremely powerful. And unusually for any kind of Titan as powerful as she, she is extremely protective of those that she considers close…"

…

Hamuko skipped up to her bedroom, ready to get some shut-eye after getting a quick shower. Just a five minute one. If it was any other day, she probably would've taken one of those long, thirty minute ones that she usually had, but, a cold one did her good this time. After all, with a long hour of fighting and bouncing through the Shadows around Tartarus, (which she thought was pretty fun) she didn't really want to spend that much time trying to get herself clean, and was more focused on getting her temperature down.

Oh well.

Hamuko smiled slightly as she rubbed out the last of the cold droplets of water from her auburn hair, musing that the first Tartarus exploration that she had ever taken on was a success and that no-one got seriously hurt by any Shadow attacks.

She chuckled slightly, remembering the first time that Minato and she encountered and fought Shadows. It wasn't that pleasant, seeing as the two of them were very new to fighting Shadows, and they gained many a scrape from that battle. Looking back on it, Hamuko laughed at how horrible they were during that first battle, but at least from then on, things went better.

In Tartarus, she had been focusing on trying to make Junpei and Yukari's first experiences with Shadows to be a bit more pleasant. It wasn't as if they were veteran fighters like Minato and she, so there was something to be said in building up confidence in summoning Persona, and fighting Shadows.

Hamuko really cared about getting through all of the things in that year alive and well. She knew that any year with the Dark Hour looming was quite daunting to deal with, whatever time of day or night. Yukari and Junpei deserved their best run-ins with Shadows.

Well, it was time for sleep. "Lights out," she smiled to herself, her slightly damp hair splaying about on her pillow as she looked for a comfortable position to sleep in.

…

Yukari had just gotten back from her first Tartarus exploration. Needless to say, she was quite shaken by the prospect of exploring such a dangerous place, but she was able to sink into the comfort of Hamuko's encouragement and finally summon her very own Persona for the first time. At that, she smiled slightly. She didn't think that she could summon her Persona like she did before, but now… she felt like she could persevere as much as Hamuko needed her to.

She had been wondering about how easy it was to work with Hamuko, but she chalked it up to her extremely friendly personality and her firm decision making while in the field or in pressure, really. Yukari now felt a certain confidence in trying to fight against Shadows since Hamuko had been able to break her into Tartarus.

It was surprising, she thought. Yukari knew very well that fighting Shadows in her own mission to get to her truth was a necessity, but before, she had definitely been afraid; not that she would admit it aloud. After all, the process was quite daunting, what with pressing the barrel of a gun to her head. Even though it was a fake it still felt and weighed in her hands just like a real gun. The body thought that it had to be a gun, even though her mind knew it was merely a tool and replica of the more deadly option.

Actually, wasn't that why they couldn't use guns to fight Shadows? They could very well mistake a pistol for the Evoker that they needed, and the results certainly wouldn't be pretty.

Yukari sighed as she walked to her bathroom quickly to wash off the sweat that had built up from her Tartarus exploration. Even if it was late, Yukari couldn't stand having to sleep with all the muck that could have built up on her skin. It was absolutely terrifying, that thought.

…

Junpei had watched his friend, Hamuko, kick Shadow ass as if it were nothing. And in fact for her, it did actually seem as if the Shadows that they were fighting against were trivial compared to whatever she had been through. After all, no-one could fire spells and manoeuvre like she did without lots, and lots of practice.

That aside, he had never felt so pumped up before except for the times that he played baseball. Ah, baseball. That was a lot of fun. In any case, Junpei felt like when Hamuko was encouraging him, he could do whatever that he wanted and crush all his enemies. Sure, he could very well admit that Hamuko was scary powerful and that she offed those Shadows just by pointing at them (note: learn how to do that later) but he was more amazed at how calm and how courageous she seemed to be. She had an aura of confidence that seemed to put him at ease, and gave him the power to do just about anything, really.

It was that awesome.

He was starting to understand why Hamuko had been made the leader of the explorations in Tartarus and any other things that could've popped up, even if they hadn't seen that awesome amount of confidence that seemed to rub off on anyone that even looked at her.

Junpei, admittedly, was pretty jealous of Hamu-tan. She was calm, brave, encouraging, friendly and hella powerful. He was almost angry at himself that he couldn't be like her; that strong, hero-like figure that could lead anyone through any situation and let all of the people that depended on that hero come out the other end alive.

But at the same time, with that jealousy, he felt that it was okay to be weak for just that moment. No, Junpei could just climb up and reach Hamu-tan's level, and then everybody would be proud of him! Right?

From what he had seen, it was going to take a lot of work to be able to fight like she did; almost effortlessly, but he could do it! If Hamu-tan could get there, then he could too! With that, he dropped off to sleep with those thoughts in mind, bringing a slight smile to his face.

And maybe… just maybe… he could be better than his 'old man…'

…

Akihiko had barely broken a sweat when he had formally entered Tartarus for the first exploration. Hamuko had really done a great job leading the team, and she didn't seem to need Mitsuru's help that much; only to become familiar with the mechanics that worked in Tartarus like the warp pads and the healing post. It was still a new place after all.

From Akihiko's point of view, he didn't have to help out the rookies that much and they were taken out systematically, almost in a turn-based order. And it made sense; commanding multiple members at the same time was a difficult task. He wasn't sure that he could've done it himself. He was more the fighter than he was a commander and thinker, so…

He was thinking, that maybe, despite his slight misgivings, it was better to have the Arisato siblings lead their Tartarus explorations. What misgivings you might ask?

Akihiko was still concerned for one of his first friends besides Shinjiro; Hamuko. She was his kohai after all, and a great friend. It was almost as if from that first meeting that he had with Hamuko, she hadn't changed all that much. Perhaps, she had aged, grown and gained experience, but somehow, she was still the same, bubbly girl that he had met for the first time.

Honestly, if there was anyone that Akihiko was worried about, it was Minato. Minato had really changed a lot. Actually… it was more like he was still the same, but from a different time from when they first met formally. And by that, Akihiko was thinking about that broken boy that he had seen at the orphanage with a steely, dead gaze that could turn anyone to stone and refrigerate the air. It was almost scary in that respect; seeing someone so alive look so dead, as if nothing in the world mattered to him anymore, except for Hamuko.

But then again, he had been trying to socialize a little more… maybe it wasn't too late for Minato to come back around and recover. After all… time heals all wounds, right?

…

Mitsuru had been up a bit later than usual, and to her, she never would've done something so detrimental to her health before. However, Minato was one mystifying character. One day, he had been stuttering his way through a conversation as if he had little to no social skills, the next, he had been shutting himself off from most interactions, and this hour… he had completely and utterly shattered in front of her eyes.

She had the feeling that Minato was much more affected by something than he ever let on, after the display that she saw in the Tartarus lobby. It was quite frightening, seeing someone so unhinged. Though, she figured that if the Arisato siblings really were active in the Dark Hour for as long as they had said the day before, there could be something that had happened that made him like that.

Actually, if the older brother was like that, one could only imagine what Hamuko could have been hiding under that cheerful façade of hers. It was unsettling to say the least, but it compelled Mitsuru to find out more about them. Perhaps it was intrusive, but she would do what she could to help her new comrades; even the ones that she didn't know so well.

Ah, but it was time for school, was it not?

She would have to continue her investigation at a later time. There was only so much that a person could do before they had to go to school.

…

Minato trudged his way to Paulownia mall, almost dragging his feet across the brick layer that made up the floor. He was still thinking about the night before.

He had met Nyx, or at least someone who claimed to be Nyx. Though, he had many reasons to believe that Nyx character was the real thing, including the atmosphere that the figure gave off, and the tones of conceit that were woven into her voice as she spoke to him, so condescendingly.

Not to mention, she had re-opened some badly scarring wounds with her clawed words and basically basked in the blood that had been spilt from them as Minato writhed in pain in the memories that came rushing forth. Even then, it had still been affecting Minato through school, making him extremely quiet, yet jumpy; nervous.

However, the Velvet Room could calm him down. It usually did, whenever he entered. It was one of his favourite places to go after all.

Minato opened up the portal and stepped into the perpetually blue room, seeing that no-one was there except for Elizabeth. It seemed to him that Liz was expecting him. He briefly wondered what for before she stepped forward and gave him a warm smile. "Welcome back to the Velvet Room, Minato," she said. "I have some things to give you now that a certain someone has explained to you the function of your Reaper role, and your teacher actually has a few words for you…"

Minato blinked. His sensei had something to tell him? He wondered what it was about before he said, "What do you need to give me?" he asked succinctly. No beating around the bush.

"For you I have two things; one, a uniform. Two, a marker," Elizabeth explained. "Please come with me," she smiled cheerfully, pointing to a mirror that sat at the back of the room.

After they had stopped in front of said mirror, Elizabeth jumped slightly and put a hat on Minato's head. "There's a hat…" she said, marvelling at how well it fit on his head. It was kind of like a bowler hat, and yet, not. "Gloves," Elizabeth smiled, and with a flick of her wrist, white gloves appeared on Minato's hands. "Boots," she continued, blue combat boots appearing to replace Minato's old ones. He was starting to notice that the clothes were still velvet blue like the rest of the room. Huh. "Gun holster," Elizabeth giggled, two large gun holsters making their ways onto his belt where he usually kept his swords. No guns in them though. That was a shame, he thought. What was the point? "And lastly… this coat," she finally said, poofing his blazer to who knew where and replacing it with a trench coat that was the same shade of blue as the rest of the Velvet Room.

"Oh, how silly of me," Elizabeth pouted, before flicking her hand again, making bloodstained bandages appear on Minato's face. "This is to obscure your face," she explained as Minato tried to get used to his altered vision. He could still see out of one eye, but the other was covered with the bandages.

"Um… thanks I guess?" Minato said sceptically.

"Indeed… there is one last thing," Elizabeth started. "The pocket watch that is your marker…"

Into Minato's hand, there appeared a lidded silver pocket watch with a chain. On the lid, there was a symbol carved carefully into the metal; an ourobos sigil, the one of the snake that ate its own tail.

"Um… are you going to explain what this is for?" Minato asked as Elizabeth took a few moments to marvel at his uniform.

"It's mostly to keep your identity as the Reaper hidden and provide suitable armour. The marker is merely identification, however I have been told that it may hold some mysterious properties of some sort," Elizabeth explained. "Anyways, I believe that a certain someone is waiting. Go on, and I will see you later, Minato."

With that, Elizabeth skipped off into a side door and disappeared.

Minato steeled himself as he held a tight grip on his primary sword and with his other hand, began to reach out for a passage that led into another room within the Velvet Room. This one… he was most certainly nervous, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel that it had been quite a while since the last time that he came there.

With a slight smile, Minato stepped into the hall and carefully listened for any disturbances in SP. In fact, he closed his eyes. He didn't need them for now.

A rushing sound of wind caught Minato's attention and he immediately drew his sword, battling back the nearly invisible sword strikes that had been aimed at him with a grin. If there was anything or anyone that could get his mind off of depressing matters it was his teacher. The one and only.

Minato forced back his sword and kicked back, only to find that his foot was caught. He should've expected that. Instead, Minato merely swung his blade in order to drive his sensei back, leaving more distance between the two figures.

He smirked up at his teacher before him, and his teacher finally revealed himself.

And if Minato didn't know any better, he thought that under that armour, his teacher was smirking. "So you haven't been slacking off," his teacher boomed, sheathing his sword and crossing his arms as he looked down at Minato. After all, he was pretty huge, compared to Minato; probably thrice his height.

"Why would I slack off against you of all people…" Minato laughed. "Thanatos-sensei."

"I would have said it is nice to see you again, Minato, but perhaps it is not," Thanatos chortled. "Now, come and give me all that you have! Do not disappoint me, lest you are not careful and I may 'accidentally' scratch your neck and slit it open."

"You got it," Minato smirked, readying his blade in a stance and lying low.

"Let's dance."

* * *

**AN: 'scuse me for being so busy, so I haven't had that much time to write. But I'm kinda surprised by how many well wishes I'm getting… not that I mind of course.**

**Anyways, plz box me yo thoughts, I'd really appreciate it!**

**Imma see ya guys later.**

**Yoshikunitsu: Haha, I know. And yes… time travelling.**  
**…I'm trying to avoid that this time.**  
**Yeah, she has. But consider for a moment that she actually came in at about the same chapter as in NTL! Haha, well… She will, but perhaps without the lovers part. If I'm feeling spontaneous, I might do a little thing for one of the turning points in the fic. She'll play more into how Minato recovers, as crazy as that sounds.**  
**Mmhm, I know, I know… I love that pairing too, I love both of them actually. I'm actually indifferent to a lot of pairings, so yeah…**  
**Quite, and Minato has a ways to go and cracks to be mended.**

**Aniki120: I'm sorry! I love the pairing as much as you old readers, but ehe… that's what Days Of Darkness is for. Haha man, it's just for fun, but just for a little playing around, consider that Minato in NTL has his whole mindscape to play around in WHENEVER HE WANTS. Hahahaha! Thanatos, I'm evil.**  
**Mmhm. Well… yeah, I'm trying to make her as scathing and conceited as possible, because that's what she is.**  
**Yeah, you guys probably will. It will come back to bite him quite a bit before he's mended.**

**Raidou: Yeah. I think this is about as broken as I have made a character before. It can very well hinder how he performs in battle now that SOMEONE'S dredging through his old memories.**  
**Sure will.**

**Nights: Ah, well. It happens to me too.**  
**Yyyyup! Expect more shenanigans!**  
**I'm excited too. And now we find out why Minato's so good at sword wielding.**  
**Sure will.**


	16. Repair

"Do you honestly think that you can take me on? How laughable. But if you so choose this fate then I shall strike you down with all of the power that I can muster, because I do not tolerate your conceit. You dare challenge me for my secrets, so help me I will cast my teachings on no-one! For daring to bring me down, you have sealed your fate!"

…

Minato smirked as Thanatos drew his primary sword once again. He wondered whether he was going to hold back or not, because if he was going to go all out, he would use that other sword of his. And to be sure, in Thanatos' other gloved hand, there was a much smaller blade that gleamed with millennia of care and sharpening. No doubt that the larger of the two swords was well kept, but this was the blade that brought a peaceful death to those who deserved it. It needed to be that sharp. His other was the blade which wrought destruction against all that opposed him.

Seeing as Thanatos was going to go all out, Minato knew that he wouldn't be able to stand a chance if he had only the one sword in hand. He could top Thanatos though, however barely, if he had his extra blade with him. With that in mind, he drew the shorter of his two blades and held it in a reverse grip behind him while he held his larger sword in front.

"I see you still remember," Thanatos chuckled before he disappeared in a black and white blur. Minato smiled. He expected this.

Minato too disappeared in a blue flash, clashing his sword with Thanatos'. It was clear that neither of them was letting up on each other, but somehow, Minato was beginning to overpower Thanatos and was beginning to force him back. "I remember the times when I just touched your sword with mine, and you were blown back by the sheer force of it!" Thanatos chuckled, looking back on some memories almost fondly.

"So do I. But I'm not going to relive them, and you're going down," Minato said calmly with a bit of a scoff in his voice before he finally batted back Thanatos' sword to the side and was going to slash Thanatos with his smaller blade. He didn't think that he was actually going to score a hit on him though. This was his sensei he was talking about.

Right on cue, Thanatos' smaller blade came to meet Minato's. Although it was much bigger than Minato's it had the same powers, and because of that, Minato could feel the slight amount of wind that was coming off it.

The point of that smaller blade was to be a one-hit kill if it was able to target any vital areas. Because of the properties that were given that blade, it was usually near invisible and even the target of the blade would feel nary a thing once the wound was made. But only if it hit vital areas.

Minato was somehow able to keep his blade in place. Considering the force behind Thanatos' larger blade, he wasn't able to move it back as much and it was more just suspended between the two of them.

"Brave Blade!"

Minato and Thanatos' swords bounced back from each other and the two were sent flying back towards opposite ends of the room, although Thanatos was blown back further considering Minato's slightly superior strength.

Minato didn't even break a sweat. This was just about what he expected. That first clash told Minato that he had definitely gotten stronger as he aged, although the difference was still slight. Well… looks like they were both thinking the same things and now they were going to be using skills too.

"Now this is a challenge," Minato muttered, although he was still smiling.

"Omega Cluster!" Thanatos roared, red and black orbs of energy coming towards Minato at high speeds. However, Minato was ready for it already and switched to get Messiah, one of his most powerful Personae to the forefront of his mind.

"Nova Kaiser!" Minato yelled, the Light attack colliding with the previous Dark magic and creating a large explosion that splayed out around the hall. However, Minato paid it no mind and charged forth into the blistering wisps of SP towards Thanatos. He didn't feel the burning spiritual power brush against his skin, even though they were residues from extremely powerful attacks. His mettle to stand against them and perhaps get a pre-emptive attack on Thanatos got him through the blue and he shouted, "Ziodyne!"

Thanatos zipped out of the way of the attack and threw a Deathbound attack Minato's way as he dodged. Minato almost didn't see the Slash damage coming towards him as he rolled out of the smoke that his Ziodyne made, but he barely managed to dodge it. "Snowflakes!" he said as he called upon his initial Persona.

Orpheus appeared from a plume of a blue mist, and a soft melody began to fill the hall. However, the magic that was summoned from that song was not as gentle as the melody that played. Shreds of ice were fired towards Thanatos and Orpheus soon disappeared.

"Hmph," Thanatos scoffed. "Megidolaon!" he growled. Purple and gold orbs of Almighty energy came to meet the powerful Ice spell that Minato had previously fired, and the two attacks battled against each other. Minato saw that it wasn't going anywhere however. They were powerful attacks in their own rights after all.

"Ziodyne," he mumbled. He raised his sword, and tendrils of white-blue electricity coiled and dispersed the fluctuating magic. Minato drew his gaze back to Thanatos, who had almost disappeared from his sight when he wasn't looking. "You're lucky I don't have my sister here, otherwise you'd be screwed," Minato smirked.

"Is that not the beauty of grace?" Thanatos chuckled as he slashed his larger sword at Minato.

Minato ducked under the strike, and he too tried to score a cut with his primary blade however Thanatos was fast enough to move away from it. "I suppose," Minato conceded. "But grace won't save you from everything," he said quietly.

"Morning Star!" Minato called upon Helel. The Almighty attack shot towards Thanatos at high speeds, however, Thanatos caught the attack with his blade.

"Don't tell me you're desperate," Thanatos taunted, even though he knew as well as Hamuko that Minato still had plenty of SP to spare even after that attack. He finally forced the spell back towards Minato, but he merely dodged out of the way, keeping a constant eye on Thanatos.

Minato wasn't even left puffing from using that spell, even though like Nova Kaiser, a normal Persona user would've been pushed to their limits with the backlash of SP that they had to use to execute the attack. "Not at all," he smiled slightly.

Thanatos laughed before shouting, "Vorpal Blade!" He crossed his two blades, and several slashes were sent at Minato when the energy that he was using was released.

"Agidyne, Niflheim," he mumbled. While Hamuko had an edge with creating Fire based spells, Minato's forte was making Ice spells. Normally this 'Fusion Spell' would've been a Ragnarok spell along with Niflheim, but he had to make do.

The contradicting elements dispersed as they neutralized the attack and they fell into tiny blue wisps of SP.

"You running low yet?" Minato asked with a small laugh. Thanatos probably wasn't.

"What about you?" Thanatos countered as the two of them clashed swords once again.

"No, not really," Minato replied, trying to get an upwards slash on Thanatos.

"Neither am I," Thanatos said, as he blocked the slash with his shorter blade and attempted a strike with his primary blade.

"Good," Minato grinned as he danced around the blade, only barely getting enough distance so that he wasn't cut. Thanatos growled as he so easily dodged. It looked like he finally got his style down. It was a dangerous, flowing dance that used the flow of forces to his advantage. It could make him extremely fast, and extremely strong. And goddamned hard to hit.

Thanatos turned to meet Minato, but he had to block the jump attack that Minato seemed to be trying. However…

Minato jumped off his blade and landed on Thanatos' shoulder, holding his shorter blade, reverse grip and all at his neck. "Because I've got ya," he smiled.

Thanatos stayed silent for a few moments before he sheathed both his swords. "You've certainly gotten stronger," he muttered, still a bit sore about losing. Even Death had its pride, it appeared.

"You're so big. That's a disadvantage now that I'm stronger than you," Minato chuckled. "And I finally got that style of mine down pat so…"

"Yes, I saw," Thanatos sighed. "I would only dare you to use it when you are truly in trouble. This is obviously not a style to be taken lightly," he suggested.

"I thought so too," Minato smiled slightly. "But Thanatos-sensei…"

"What?" Thanatos asked, almost snapping. Still sore.

"Um… thank you for teaching me," Minato said as he sheathed his swords.

Thanatos looked on at his student, and although Minato would never be able to see it under all the armour and the mask that he wore, he was proud. He would never say it, but he was. Those two runts that came to him ten years ago could definitely handle their own now. "No need to thank me. Only thank me by keeping yourself alive, and hopefully the last time I see you will not be now, but when I come to take your life in peaceful sleep," Thanatos replied, turning away from Minato.

Minato gazed at Thanatos' back for a few moments before a smile creased his face. "I will," he said.

"Also, you made me feel a bit better with me getting my mind off your mum," Minato laughed as he turned heel and headed towards the exit.

"You met my mother, I see…" Thanatos mumbled in thought. "WAIT! YOU MET MY MOTHER!?"

…

Mitsuru sighed. Throughout school, she had been fairly focused on her own work, but she couldn't help but worry about Minato. Whatever had been affecting him had definitely been foreboding and unlike anything that she had seen. She decided that she would ask Minato about it later if she could and perhaps get some insight from Hamuko if she was willing.

It was her reading time, and it was about this time that the students started getting back to the dorm. She greeted them each as they came in, finding that Minato came in second last, carrying a blue coat over his shoulder and even a hat. "Welcome back Arisato-san," she said, deftly placing a bookmark in between the pages that she was reading.

"Hey, Mitsuru-san. How's your day been going?" he asked with a relatively happy smile. Mitsuru had half a mind to call him out on how happy he seemed, but she decided that it would be best not to ask him. If that reaction that he had the night before was something that he remembered, she cared enough not to bring him down.

"It has been fair," Mitsuru nodded. "I have a few things to say about Tartarus however."

"What's up?" Minato asked as he calmly gazed at Mitsuru.

"I wanted to say that you and Hamuko-san have to choose when you want to enter Tartarus. You can tell me if you want to go earlier that evening so that we can prepare for our expedition," Mitsuru explained. "However, you should also take into account the condition of the other team members. They are not quite used to operating in the Dark Hour like you are."

Minato nodded. "I can see that happening. I'd probably want to go tomorrow instead. Get some rest and then I can see how I do," he said with a small amount of confidence seeping into his voice. "I'm not as good at commanding teams as Hamuko is, but… I make up for it in power."

"Well then, that's good to hear," Mitsuru said, a slight smile making its way onto her face.

"Don't you have something to ask me though?" Minato said with a smirk.

Mitsuru kept her flinch under control, and she looked back to Minato with a stern expression. She was wondering by what he meant, or if he even knew what she was thinking about. From what she had heard from Akihiko so far, she had heard that he was particularly good at reading emotions when he was calm.

"I can see it in your eyes. You have something to ask, but you're not sure whether you should ask me because it could intrude on personal territory," Minato said simply, taking his hat off.

Mitsuru blinked once or twice before thinking it over. He was sharp, and he had somehow been able to see what she had meant so easily. "Yes… I do," she said.

"Shoot. I'm in a good mood, so yeah," Minato smiled ever so slightly, rubbing the back of his head. Nervous again.

"Well, I had watched you during that Tartarus exploration yesterday, and I saw that you were not only distancing yourself from me, but after a while, I saw you seemingly… traumatized by something, even though there was nothing that I could sense that would indicate someone speaking with you," Mitsuru said. "What happened?"

Minato gazed at Mitsuru, pondering how he should answer. From what he saw in her eyes, it seemed to be out of concern. Hm…

"Well, if I told you, you probably wouldn't believe me," Minato sighed, not quite sure if he could trust Mitsuru with any more information than that.

"Why not?" she asked as she put down her book and approached him. "You know as well as I do that all of us in this dorm have already experienced the Dark Hour. At this point, anything more than that cannot be so surprising."

Minato sighed. She had a point, but it wasn't really a belief in what he was saying that was worrying him. He knew that he could sound pretty weird sometimes already, so it was something that he was used to. But trusting her? "I know, but… honestly, that's not the problem," he explained.

"Then what is?" Mitsuru asked.

"I haven't known you for that long, or the rest of the dorm members aside from Akihiko and Hamuko," Minato said succinctly. "I don't know whether I trust you enough to tell you something like that yet."

Mitsuru closed her eyes as she thought. That made sense. You wouldn't tell someone something private if you had only met them a few days ago. So, if she wanted to know, he had to trust her. "What can I do to make you trust me?" Mitsuru asked.

"There are two things, that make me trust people and make me share secrets," he said with a blank expression. "For one, I exchange secrets for secrets. You tell me one, I'll tell you mine if I think that it's enough," he smirked.

Mitsuru raised an eyebrow at that. While that option was easy enough, it also meant that she would have to give up a secret in return and she wouldn't even be sure if he would accept some kinds of secrets or not. It was harder than it sounded after all.

"Two… if you can keep my sister safe," Minato said. Although he had been able to keep his voice as smooth as possible, had he not been so proficient at hiding his emotions, Mitsuru would've been able to hear a tremble in his voice. But she couldn't.

"I see…" Mitsuru nodded. "I'll keep that in mind," she said.

"Yeah," Minato replied. "Well, I got some stuff to do. See ya Mitsuru-san."

"Wait, Arisato," Mitsuru turned as Minato was about to step up the stairs.

"Hm?" he asked.

"Do you prefer being called Minato or Arisato?" she asked.

Minato gazed at Mitsuru once more, finding that she was concerned, perhaps starting to care a little more. Maybe it was because of what he told her, but this question was pretty simple. "I like being called Minato," he answered.

* * *

**AN: Hey, I'm back. Sorry this came out late but I was doing stuff for some friends of mine. Hope you like the chapter. Little thing, does anyone know who's saying those quotes yet? It's pretty obvious from the way that he's talking. Meh, whatever happens, happens.**

**Anyways, plz box me yo thoughts, I'd appreciate it.**

**Imma see ya guys later.**

**Raidou: Yeah. And Minato won. Look at all those high level spells…**

**Nights: Yup, it is. Also makes you scary strong.**  
**I guess. And we're back to Mitsuru. I feel like I've been neglecting a few characters, but… hm. I'll get back to that.**  
**Sure will.**

**Yoshikunitsu: I guess. If Nyx opens up more bad wounds, then Minato will have to heal them again, but better this time because they've still been hurting all this time.**  
**Yyyup. Best idea that I've had in a while.**  
**Yeah, it's inevitable, but it's stuff for later.**  
**I guess. But I figured that it was kinda messy, so I'm gonna stick to what I know will work better.**  
**Cool, because hopefully, if I get around to it… Yukari will get some more moments this time, along with Junpei, Akihiko and Mitsuru, even if the story is Minato and Hamuko-centric.**  
**Sure will.**


	17. Spilt Needles

"So you won against me? I never thought that I would lose to a human. It is a remarkable feat. I still remember when you could not even hold a sword correctly, but now I see that my efforts over the year to pound you into swords worthy to be used in the name of Death and… the collective consciousness, have not been useless. Well done."

…

The next day was the day that Minato had chosen to go to Tartarus. And true to his word, Yukari and Junpei had recovered and regained the energy that they had needed to get through another night of Dark Hour.

This time, it was Hamuko's turn to stay at the bottom of Tartarus, seeing as Minato was supposed to be taking them up to some higher levels and to help them get better at fighting. Not fighting Shadows, but fighting in general. And while that knowledge was something that could be used to fight against Shadows, it was mostly about using their powers to be able to defend themselves from just about anything.

She prayed for their souls. When Minato was feeling sadistic, he could really be a slave driver; not only to her or any of the Velvet Room residents but to himself as well. Minato was someone who took any training that he was doing very seriously. That was why he was so much better at the ways of the sword that Thanatos had taught them than her. He was after all, the one who had asked how to use the style that Thanatos used when he was being serious.

Hamuko couldn't. In return however, she had better control over her magic and spells. And while Minato's spells were powerful as all hell she had more control when it came to using minimal amounts of SP to create spells. She could last longer in a magic-using fight than Minato could, if you really wanted to try and wear down the entire amount of SP that the two wielded. It would probably take a few days.

"Mitsuru-senpai! How're things going?" she asked, skipping over to where the red-headed senior was with a smile.

"Minato-san has been leading the team very well… but I fear that perhaps he could tone down the amount of language that he's using while he is explaining things about fighting Shadows and-" Mitsuru's eyes widened, again hearing another string of curses from the cobalt-haired leader as he told the team members to obliterate the Shadows in front of them.

"Oh, that's a normal thing. He always curses a lot when he's fighting Shadows. Minato-nii likes to take out his anger out on them like that, even though that is why he's a bit dumber when he's fighting," Hamuko sighed. "And that's why I'm usually around; to make sure that he doesn't get too seriously hurt," she explained with a sheepish smile.

"I-I see," Mitsuru stammered. That was one way to destroy Shadows quickly…

…

"Fuck up those pieces of shit!" Minato yelled with an almost crazed tone. "Garu 'em with everything that you got!"

Yukari laughed nervously before summoning her Persona and firing a Garu spell at the Shadows they had surrounded.

…

"Anyways, even if he's not thinking as much, he's still hella powerful. We sorta… balance each other out, if you know what I mean?" Hamuko said, looking to Mitsuru for confirmation.

"Interesting… so you both fight better as a unified team," Mitsuru nodded. "In what ways does fighting together benefit you two?"

"Well you see, Minato has a bit more of a natural affinity to Ice," Hamuko said.

…

"Snowflakes!" Minato roared, summoning Orpheus. With soft strums and picking, the musician played his signature melody gracefully. The next moment as Minato's Persona disappeared multiple sharp needles of ice sliced the Shadow that he was targeting into small bits of skin, mist and Ichor.

Akihiko gulped. Remind him sometime never to get on Minato's bad side.

…

"And I have a natural affinity to Fire," Hamuko smiled, pointing her thumb to herself. "Because of that, we can combine powerful Ice and Fire spells to make really powerful Fusion Spells. The contradicting elements make huge explosions and cause a lot of damage over a large area. Combine them, we get Light magic instead!"

Mitsuru could only imagine what kind of power could be wielded just from combining spells like that, and working in tandem in order to efficiently get rid of Shadows. "What are Fusion Spells?" she asked, wanting to make sure.

"It's exactly like it sounds! You combine different spells and they make bigger, and more powerful ones! Like, there's this awesome powerful Fusion spell called Armageddon, and when we do it, these blue flames and electricity come to annihilate the Shadows!" Hamuko grinned as she thought about it. "But that's probably not what you're talking about. I mean you could combine Zio and Garu, and you get this stormy spell!"

…

"Akihiko! Yukari! Use Garu and Zio together! Watch me," Minato commanded. He brought his hands out and summoned a Garudyne and a Ziodyne spell in each of them. He brought them together once more when he had gathered enough energy, the Garu and Zio spells combining.

Yukari and Akihiko looked at each other unsurely. It seemed pretty dangerous.

…

"Then what are these other spells that you've mentioned, like Armageddon?" Mitsuru asked further.

"They're technically Fusion Spells, but they're ones that only Minato and I can use since we have multiple Personae," Hamuko said, "If we supply one part of the spell each, we can do these awesome attacks. We can do it one our own too, but it's more taxing on our individual amounts of SP."

…

Minato summoned two Persona; Scathach and Cu Chulainn. He could feel the strain on the sea of his soul, but he gritted his teeth. "Shadow Hound!" he growled.

Together, teacher and student disappeared and they tore the Shadows apart in a flurry of blue mist.

…

"So you can summon two Personae at the same time, and do the Fusion Spell that way, or you could summon one Persona required each, and then execute the spell," Mitsuru nodded. "Such deadly forces between the two of you…"

"Yup! We're deadly!" Hamuko smiled. But because of that smile, Mitsuru wasn't sure whether her assumption was correct anymore.

"Lastly, what was that manoeuvre that you and your brother performed in order to destroy that large Shadow that attacked the dorm?" Mitsuru asked.

"They are the basic culminations of everything that we've learned over ten years. They're what we call Combinations, and they involve using physical and spiritual energy to create piles and piles of dead Shadows," Hamuko nodded. "We have twelve of them, and we named them after the Zodiac signs! The one that we used on the Shadow 'army' was called Gemini!"

"Why did you call it Gemini?" the redhead asked with a touch of scepticism in her voice.

"Well, if you saw what we were doing form a certain angle, it looks like we drew the symbol for Gemini, which kinda looks like the Roman numeral for two," Hamuko said. She brought up her finger, and started to gesture how the two of them moved. "Minato kicks the Shadow up into the air, I meet the Shadow and bash it back down between us, and then we do a Ziodyne each, trapping the Shadow in the lightning. Then as it falls, we slash the Shadow together. It kinda does look like one, ne?"

"I suppose it does," Mitsuru agreed.

"But I definitely can't do them without my brother, because they all require the two of us!" Hamuko laughed.

"I see. Thank you, Hamuko-san," Mitsuru smiled slightly. "I see that perhaps having you two lead separately was partly a good thing. With the two of you together, I fear that perhaps the rest of the members may get left behind…"

"I doubt Minato would allow that!" Hamuko grimaced. "He's really hard-working and serious when it comes to training and stuff like that."

"He does seem the kind of person…" Mitsuru agreed.

"Yup, that's him," Hamuko nodded. "So, do you think that's it for now?" she asked of Mitsuru with a smile.

"I think that will be all for now. I think the next step would be teaching us all to summon our powers and Persona without the use of an Evoker," Mitsuru smiled slightly. They were yet another step closer to getting stronger.

"Ehe, I think that'll be for another time! It's tough!" Hamuko laughed, separating from Mitsuru.

When Hamuko had gotten farther from Mitsuru, she began to feel a hazy presence at the back of her mind. She had no idea what it was, but there was something icy cold about it, almost like Minato's attitude sometimes. Not that she would ever say that out loud, but it was pretty true.

She was still curious about it though, so against her better judgement she tried to find out just what that voice was. "Hello?" she whispered, looking around the lobby, wondering if she could find an answer to the source of the voice there.

"Hey there, ruby. Or do you like being called Hamuko-chan?"

The voice made Hamuko looked around frantically once she heard it. Why was it so smooth? Why did it sound like it come from an experienced playboy? "Wh-Who are you?" Hamuko asked, grimacing as she replied. That tone of his, she didn't like, and it put her on guard.

"Haha, I'm Tartarus. The consciousness of the tower that you guys are crawling up," he replied easily. If Hamuko didn't know any better, he was smirking. That tone that he used, it was… somehow so annoying… "And you, ruby are one of the Reapers that take care of the inside of the prison," Tartarus laughed.

"Y-You're Tartarus?" Hamuko mumbled incredulously. She didn't want to be too loud, and she was trying hard to reach into the sea of her soul to make out her words. Because that was where she could feel the presence; right there in the sea of her soul, almost frolicking in it. "How…"

"How am I talking to you? I'm a Titan, so I can do lots of crazy things. Kinda like the outside of the tower," he chuckled. "Including contacting you through the sea of your soul," Tartarus said.

Hamuko merely nodded dumbly, unsure of what to think of the situation. It definitely wasn't a situation that she was used to. "I see… Why are you talking to me though?" she asked.

"Because I'm supposed to be explaining to you what the Reaper is supposed to do and the duties he or she will do, stuff like that. No biggie," Tartarus said. "Because from what I've seen, the guys in humanity's consciousness and whatever haven't told you yet. How mysterious," he laughed.

"Oh… okay then," Hamuko replied.

"Yeah… now, the Reaper's really just supposed to take care of the tower, make sure it's in good condition and maybe look after the guys crawling up the tower too…" Tartarus said. "That's all well and good, but the main purpose of the Reapers is to make sure that the prisoners don't get out. Doubt they will since they're locked in eternal suffering and stuff, but it's just in case. Sounds boring, doesn't it?"

"Kinda," Hamuko agreed with a shaky voice.

"I'll let you on a little secret since I think you're cute," he chuckled.

Hamuko blinked a couple of times. Did he actually say that she was cute? She spent but a few minutes on that thought, thinking about whether she should just take the compliment or snap at him for it. However, she then thought that if it was Tartarus that she was talking to, it was highly possible that he was much more powerful than she could imagine and that he could use his… godly powers to smit her or something like that. No, she couldn't snap at him. She wasn't looking for trouble, however much she wanted to lash out at him for calling her that.

"There's actually a place where you can look at some pretty interesting video tapes. Yes, this place has video tapes. And they're security video tapes! You can see what people did in the tower…" he explained. But wasn't security footage supposed to be boring? What the heck could be so interesting about something like that?

"Um… okay," Hamuko nodded to herself.

"Yeah ruby. I'll show it to you and sapphire later. And by that I mean your bro," he chuckled. "Well, see ya ruby. Another time," Tartarus said before his presence disappeared.

Hamuko no longer felt him in the sea of her soul. But she was left to think; why did he call them ruby and sapphire? Besides the hair, why a gem and not something else? Why the mystery?

Grah! How frustrating!

"Hamuko-san. They're coming down soon," Mitsuru informed her.

"Oh, okay," Hamuko nodded. "Thanks for telling," she smiled.

She was going to come back to that tower and she was going to wring out that answer from Tartarus, sooner or later.

* * *

**AN: I would've posted this earlier, but I couldn't, because my internet was being a bitch. Ohhh man.**

**Plz box me yo thoughts, I'd appreciate it.**

**Imma see ya guys later.**

**Guest: I guess it would help if you had finished your review, but I digress. This fic is a whole lot of AU. So it means that inevitably, the relationships between different characters are going to be different. I'm going to be going more by real life rules, and that means that Minato/Hamuko can reject who they want to romance if they want to. That's a right, is it not? It means that Minato could turn down Aigis if he wanted to as well. It means that Hamuko doesn't have to romance Akihiko or even… Hidetoshi or something crazy like that.**

**amir26r: Hey, thanks. And yes, he does. I will.**

**Yoshikunitsu: Thanks! But holidays are never happy when you don't have internet connection.**  
**Yup! Indeed.**  
**Mmhm, in this chapter. I'll try to balance out the time between the two siblings when I can.**  
**Thanks, and I will.**

**Nights: Glad you liked it. And sure will.**

**Raidou: Thanks! I will.**

**Aniki120: Yay, thanks. I did indeed switch their affinities.**  
**Thanks! I thought it was a little funny too.**


	18. Coming Back Down

Hamuko skipped up to Junpei with an ever present smile. "Heyo, do you feel like hanging out?" she asked.

The capped teen replied with his trademark grin, "Sure Hamu-tan. Whatcha feel like doing?"

"Well, I just wanted to ask you about a few things, considering what happened with the Tartarus explorations yesterday. You all looked pretty roughed up, so I just wanted to know what happened," Hamuko explained with a small laugh. "Even Akihiko-senpai didn't look so well after all that," she said, rubbing the back of her head.

Junpei flinched at the mention of yesterday, his body starting to remember what Minato had just put them through. If they were travelling through hell, he just shoved them through and up Babel. With him as leader, they were sure getting stronger if they did it repeatedly, but it was needless to say that it took quite a toll on the team's bodies. "U-Uh alright then," he stammered as he picked up his bag.

"Come on Junpei!" she smiled as she too picked up her stuff.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" Junpei yelled after her.

"Well cool, because I'm not waiting up for you forever," Hamuko teased and stuck out her tongue, ignoring the stares that she was getting from her classmates. She was certainly cute, and much peppier than even Junpei of all people, so it drew a lot of attention to her.

Junpei was already starting to feel the aches come back to his shoulders and legs as he tried to catch up to Hamuko. It was slowing him down quite a bit, and Hamuko saw that when she looked back. "Okay, maybe I'm a bit extreme like Minato," she giggled before moonwalking backwards to Junpei. "I'll slow down."

"Thanks," Junpei managed to say in-between breaths.

"No problem Junpei," Hamuko replied. "So, wanna tell me how hard Minato went on you guys?" she asked, looking to the capped teen with a worried expression.

"Well… I mean is completely trashing our energy and spell power supposed to be a training method?" Junpei asked with a grimace.

"That's how he does it. The point is that if you strain your muscles and then let them recover, they're supposed to come back even stronger than before," Hamuko nodded. "It's the same with SP, but it's slightly more dangerous. It is your soul you're talking about! And your soul is important, since that's what fuels the energy that your Persona uses to cast spells!" she giggled.

"Oh. I didn't know that," Junpei mumbled under his breath. "I get it!" he exclaimed. "Still, even if it actually is training, that stuff's still hard as hell!" he grumbled.

"I know," Hamuko laughed. "I was there, and I've done it before. Maybe if you joined an extra-curricular sports club it would be easier to keep up after a while. Any favourite sports Junpei?" she said.

"Oh well, I really like baseball!" he grinned, grasping the edge of his cap.

"Oh, that would make sense!" Hamuko nodded. "You were like that with your sword. But unfortunately, I'm not much of a fan of sports in general…"

"Why's that?" Junpei asked.

"Well, you know Australia's huge on their own sports, and every stereotypical Australian is supposedly really absorbed into stuff like rugby and cricket," Hamuko sighed. "I just got tired of it, so now I don't like much of any sport. Well, except for tennis…"

Hamuko looked around before she realised, "Oh, I guess I kinda just rambled there for a bit. Feel free to stop me if you feel like-"

"Naw, don't worry about it Hamu-tan," Junpei reassured.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah! I asked, so it's fine!" he nodded.

"Oh okay then," Hamuko laughed a little bit. "But lemme ask something…"

"Wassup?"

"Training aside, what do you think of Minato?" Hamuko asked. "Be honest, I won't get angry. I tease him a lot myself," she smiled.

"Ah well… honestly, I don't really…" Junpei trailed off, trying to find the right words to say. "I dunno, there's something about him that puts me off. And I have to admit…" He shook his head. He shouldn't tell her something like that. How was it that he was so much more open around Hamuko? "Argh, just forget it," he sighed as he scratched the back of his head.

"Hm… are you sure?"

Junpei looked to Hamuko, and saw that she had a curious expression on her. Why couldn't he refuse it? "I suppose I'm kinda finding it hard to believe that someone like Minato could be that strong," he tried to say, finding it hard to put it into words.

"Oh," Hamuko nodded, "I can see that. Well strength aside, what do you think of his lack of personality as a whole?"

Junpei closed his eyes and stroked and imaginary beard. She certainly wasn't afraid to make pokes at her brother's expense. "He's awkward," he nodded. He figured that neither was he.

"I agree!" Hamuko laughed.

Jack Frost stirred in the sea of her soul.

…

Minato had gone back to the dorm much earlier than Junpei or Hamuko. That day he was just planning to go and sleep his worries off. Commanding everyone yesterday was something that he hadn't done before, and while he may have been increasingly intense as a result of his training habits, he wasn't cruel enough to say that they just had to deal with it. It had happened with Hamuko before, and that time was just not a very good one for either of them.

He wasn't completely sure how he could've gone about relaying to everyone the fact that he didn't mean to be so harsh. His awkwardness and shyness was starting to come through once again. He had to learn how to handle it. If he wasn't shy, he was a douche. And if he was, he was awkward as all hell.

What happened to him? He wasn't like this before when he was a kid. He was actually just like Hamuko back then. She could handle herself well, and she was happy a lot of the time… So then what?

"Minato-senpai?"

Senpai? There was only one person around the dorm that he knew referred to him as 'Minato-senpai.'

"Yukari-san?" he asked.

"Oh hey, what's up?" she asked. Yukari had never really interacted with Minato alone before. All the other times, she was with Hamuko. Because of that, she still was not that sure about how she should act around her senpai and leader in Tartarus.

Speaking of Tartarus, she had come back to the dorm completely exhausted by Minato's training, the constant running and all the battles that she and her teammates had fought. Not to mention, that she began to witness just how different Minato was while he fought. His skills, from what little she knew, were nothing to snuff at. By a long shot. And not only that, but he was more aggressive when he fought. When he talked, however rarely, he was more subdued, or as Hamuko had put it multiple times, a standoffish douche.

"Um, nothing much," Minato mumbled. "But uh, would you mind if I talked to you for a bit about what happened yesterday?"

Yukari was wary of what he might've said, but she kept it to herself. As much as she didn't want to fight against Shadows and as much as she was focused on that other goal of hers, she wasn't looking to drive a wedge between someone that she didn't appear to know very well. Besides, he couldn't be all that bad, considering how meek Minato seemed at that moment. "Sure senpai. What is it?" she asked.

"I just…" Minato took some breaths, remembering how he felt when he talked to Mitsuru before. This was the same. "I wanted to say sorry for pushing you guys really hard yesterday," he said. "You guys haven't been doing this for as long as Hamuko and I, so I guess I wasn't that used to it and I got caught up in the fights and training…"

"Oh… Just be careful next time, I guess," Yukari said unsurely, "I mean, we're tired, but we're not hurt badly, so it couldn't have been that bad…"

"Are you sure? I was thinking that I should slow stuff down so that you won't be so banged up the next day," Minato chuckled nervously.

"Uh sure! I think that'd be loads better," Yukari replied.

"Oh cool," Minato nodded. "Yukari-san, one last thing…"

"What's up?"

"What do you think of me? Honestly," Minato asked with a sheepish smile. "I won't mind if you call me out for being a douche or something like that."

Yukari blinked. That wasn't a question that she was expecting at all. She carefully tried to pick her words out if she needed it, eyeing Minato's stagnant and almost soul piercing gaze. "Well, I don't know you really well, so I'm not really sure what I should say…"

"Hm…" Minato thought. "I'm not really good at this," he mumbled.

"Then why don't we know each other better so you do?" Minato asked, settling on one of the couch's armrests.

"What about each other?" Yukari replied.

"Well…" Minato tried to search for something that hopefully the two of them could relate to and that he could somehow carry on. "What kind of music do you listen to?"

Yukari looked at her senior sceptically before she realized that he listened to music a lot. She saw from the worn metal earpieces hung around his neck. So that was the first thing he thought of. "I don't listen to that much music, but pop I guess. And a bit of electronic?"

"Pop and electronic? Hm, pop I expected since that's everywhere, but electronic? Cool," Minato nodded.

"Yeah, well it's not a main thing I listen to. What about you?" Yukari asked.

"Eh, well… probably expecting it, but rock, metal, video game music and actually, some rap now that I think about it," Minato chuckled. "Guess I'm not that interesting in that regard…"

"Well, I expected rock, but not the other ones. But I guess it makes sense now," Yukari trailed off.

"How so?"

"I mean, you might not notice, but you bop your head a lot when you have your earphones in. I don't do that to my music too much," Yukari said. "Rock seems like something you might do that to."

"Oh," Minato said, a wave of realisation coming over him. "Maybe I should notice that more," he mumbled to himself.

"Say… I just remembered something," Yukari sighed.

"What's up?" Minato asked as he saw the flash of worry in her eyes.

"Well, it's just that there's something that I haven't told anyone about for the longest time, and… I guess you can call me out to be rude but I already know most of your past, now that you've told everyone and since before we recruited you into SEES we needed to know you two as well as possible," Yukari explained, "And I thought that maybe, since you know how losing parents feels…"

"You want to tell me," Minato said, the sentence more of a statement than a question. He was still trying to keep his animosity down now that she had mentioned losing his parents.

"Y-Yeah," Yukari said, stumbling over her words. "Is it okay?"

"Sure," Minato nodded. Despite his anger once again simmering underneath the surface, he couldn't turn down a request like that. All he had to do was listen to her.

"Well ten years ago, there was an explosion in the area," Yukari said.

Minato listened intently. An explosion ten years ago? It sounded all too familiar…

"My dad was a scientist with the Kirijo group, and he got caught in the blast and…" she sighed before continuing to explain. "Well, since then I've been pretty much alone. My mum and I aren't exactly on good terms…"

"Similar, yet not," Minato mumbled.

"Huh?" Yukari turned to Minato.

"Nothing," Minato sighed. "It's nothing."

"Saying it twice isn't very convincing. Anyways…" Yukari said. "Since then, I've been trying to find out what happened that night ten years ago. That's why I'm here."

"I see. The story isn't as similar as I thought, but the motivations are the same," Minato said.

"You want to find out the truth too?" Yukari asked.

"Yeah. I'm here because I want to know. I want to know if that night was real or not. I want to know who to blame," Minato growled as he kept the last thing that he wanted a secret sealed shut.

"I guess we're both in the same boat," Yukari said.

"Yeah," Minato nodded.

"But um…" Minato looked down at Yukari with a slightly curious expression. "I'm glad that I told you that. It feels like a weight off my chest just came off," she laughed a little.

Minato nodded. "That's good," he agreed. He didn't feel much different, seeing as that it was yet only one of his motivations. But Minato at least knew that there was someone out there, now sitting next to him that felt the same way as him.

Cybele stirred within the sea of his soul…

* * *

**AN: Holidays do things to my writing habits. Plz box me yo thoughts if you want and imma see ya guys later.**

**Raidou: I dunno. Alternate universes? And no, I'm not joking. Hahaha, wait you did.**

**Yoshikunitsu: Well kinda, but eh… Yeah, opposites again. Hamuko got Theo, and she gets Tartarus, the guy. Minato got Elizabeth, and he gets Nyx. Haha, well they aren't really gonna be paired, but at least they'll be close.**

**Nights: Well, that's something everyone can agree on.**  
**Hahaha, I almost forgot what that spell looked like. I still don't quite know what it looks like. What's the one with the saws again? XD**  
***rofls* Took it that personally?**


	19. Welcome Home

"Hey, senpai," Junpei called to Minato.

Minato jolted awake, not realising that the game that he had been playing had still been going since he drifted off. Sometimes he was just that tired, and he fell asleep even when he was still doing something without him noticing. "Huh, wha?"

"Yo, you were totally sleeping. You're still on that same turn," Junpei chuckled. Like Hamuko had said, he didn't seem that bad. He was just like him in some ways. Like the fact that he played video games!

"Oh," Minato said absentmindedly before pressing the L and A buttons on his DS. "Uh thanks," he replied.

"No problem! Sooo, when are you guys going to teach us how to summon our Personas without using those Evoker things?" Junpei asked eagerly, a grin on his face.

Minato looked sleepily at him as he processed his words. Right, summoning Persona. "Well, I could tell you about it now… but I doubt it would be that efficient," he said, absentmindedly pressing the A button.

"Hey, but Aki's here, maybe Hamu-tan can teach Yuka-tan and Mitsuru-senpai," Junpei grinned as he pointed his thumb to Akihiko.

"Yo," Akihiko waved. "So, are we doing this?" he asked, punching his open palm.

Minato looked the two of them up and down. Well… he guessed that he could at least try. "Well, I'll see what I can do."

…

"So, do you think it'll be cool if I teach you guys now? Since I mentioned it today, Junpei's probably gonna be bugging Minato about it if I know him as well as I think I do," Hamuko asked with a smile, looking at Mitsuru and Yukari expectantly.

"Well… I suppose so," Yukari nodded. "I think that'd be good to teach us kinda early on and stuff," she agreed.

"I think it would be wise. Giving us time to practice will also be something that can benefit our group in the long run," Mitsuru said. "So, would you start?"

"I will!" Hamuko grinned. "So, it starts when…"

…

"…you have a resolve. A strong, long lasting resolve," Minato said intently, gazing into Junpei and Akihiko's eyes. "Whatever it is, that's where you start," he explained.

"What's this resolve thingy?" Junpei asked with a sceptical expression.

"Well, I guess it's difficult to explain but…" Minato sighed. "What about I'll tell you mine? Tell me if you have something similar. And if you have it, but don't wanna tell, that's fine too..." he reassured, remembering and holding strong to the resolve that he had gained to want to summon his Persona.

…

"A resolve you say?" Mitsuru inquired.

"Yeah. A resolve! It's the reason that you want to summon your Persona!" Hamuko nodded. "Everyone has one, even if they haven't found it yet. But for my bro and I, we had to find it really early one otherwise we couldn't summon our Personas at all. We didn't have Evokers like you guys," she explained.

"That makes sense," Yukari mumbled.

"Well, I'll tell you mine so that you get an idea," Hamuko smiled. "My resolve is to protect my big bro for as long as I can. I won't let him fall, I'll help him for as long as I can, and… if it means I have to give up my life then I'd do it," she said with a determined expression.

…

"My resolve to summon my Personae is to protect what's left of my family at any cost," Minato stated, unflinchingly. "I'd do whatever I could to help Hamuko, and to keep her safe. And if I had to die to do that, then I would."

Akihiko gazed at Minato before a small smile creased his face. So that was his resolve. It was… it was similar to the reason he wanted to summon his Persona. "My resolve is to get strong enough to protect what's left of the people I care about," Akihiko said, determination burning in his eyes.

Minato smiled slightly. Right. He couldn't protect Miki, so he would try to protect what was left.

…

Mitsuru nodded to herself. She expected her 'resolve' to be something like that. "I see…" she nodded. "I do not feel like divulging my resolve however it is similar to yours, Hamuko." The resolve that Mitsuru kept close to her heart was that of her desire to keep her father safe and to carry off the burden that had been thrust upon him; his burden to get rid of the Dark Hour.

"Haha, no problem! You don't have to say what your resolve is; all you've gotta do is know what it is for now," Hamuko explained. "Can you think of one Yukari-chan?" she asked.

Yukari bit her lip. "I can think of one," she nodded. "I just don't want to say."

"That's fine!" Hamuko nodded. "It isn't as if you have to share them. Sometimes they're really private, and something that you'd rather keep to yourself, and that's okay."

…

Junpei looked in awe at the two seniors. He was becoming unsure of what his resolve was, if he had one. He could think of something, but it seemed so weak.

"Junpei, can you think of something?" Minato asked, gazing lazily at the capped teen.

"Um, I… I'm not exactly sure," Junpei sighed in defeat. Why was he so weak compared to everyone else? The people around him had something to hold onto. Something strong. But he was weak compared to them. What had he been through but a drunk for a father and pissing himself during the Dark Hour? "I can't think of one."

Minato nodded to himself. "Well, when I first couldn't summon my Persona, I got myself beaten up until I could. It didn't work, but Hamuko was able to summon hers," he chuckled. "But she got targeted next, and it kinda snapped something in me. Then I summoned my first Persona."

"Let's put this another way. What do you want to do with your Persona, now that you have it?" Minato asked.

"Well, I wanna get stronger," Junpei said, as if it was a no-brainer.

"Why do you want to get stronger?" Minato asked, a small smirk making its way onto his face.

"Because… I wanna prove that I can be a hero," Junpei said lamely.

Minato chuckled. "Why do you want to be a hero?"

Junpei froze. Why did he want to be a hero at all? He didn't know. Was it out of jealousy? Was it something else? "That I don't know," he laughed nervously.

"No-one becomes a hero by themselves. They became heroes because of someone else. Can you think why now?" Minato asked.

Akihiko watched on with wonder. What Minato had just said, it was all too true. Hercules became a hero because he killed someone else, and from there he rose to power with his labours. There were others out there, whether on TV, video games or whatever media that became heroes, because of other people influencing them.

"Well… I guess I got my friends like Hamu-tan and Yuka-tan," Junpei admitted with a sheepish grin.

"That's it," Minato nodded. "Though, you want to protect my sister too?" he chuckled.

"W-What?" Junpei's eyes widened. "Hey, hey, she's my friend, that's all!"

"I know," Minato smiled slightly.

…

"So now with a resolve, you have to concentrate on it, and you use that to summon your Persona. You call out to them to help you keep that resolve," Hamuko tried to explain. "Ehe, I can't really explain this part… but do you kinda get it?" she smiled sheepishly.

"I suppose," Yukari nodded slowly.

"Well, it works better in the Dark Hour, so what about…" Hamuko bit her lip as she thought of what they could do. "Okay, instead of going to Tartarus, we can stay back here and try to practice summoning or at least summoning magic! There's more spirit energy in the Dark Hour, so it's easier to summon than it is in the real world!"

"I think that would be best," Mitsuru agreed.

Alilat stirred…

…

"So yeah, the idea is that you use that resolve as part of a request to summon your Persona, to sort of… coax it out, if you know what I mean," Minato said. "It works better when you're under pressure, and better when you're in the Dark Hour."

"Wait, so you can summon in the real world too?" Akihiko asked with widened eyes.

"Yeah, but it's harder," Minato said, rubbing the back of his head. "Like this, I guess."

He opened his hand to expose his palm, and a softly glowing Tarot card swirled into it. "And then," Minato muttered as he crushed the card into shards of blue glass and summoned a Persona. "That's what happens."

"Whoa," Junpei mumbled.

A Jack Frost materialised behind Minato, and it hopped onto his shoulders. "Get off!" Minato growled before smashing the back of his fist into the icy demon. Well, he tried, but it disappeared in a puff of snow and reappeared floating over Akihiko's head, giggling. "Goddamned little," Minato mumbled.

"Haha, bad luck Akihiko-senpai!" Junpei chuckled, but he wasn't able to say anything more as Jack Frost swiped his cap from his head and made off with it.

"Yeah right," Akihiko deadpanned at the scrambling Junpei.

"Give it back!" the currently non-capped teen cried.

"Jack Frost, give it back to him before I replace you for Skadi," Minato snarled at the little demon. Jack Frost gasped before glaring at Minato, almost as if he was saying 'you wouldn't dare!' to him. However, he succumbed to Minato's command and he dropped the hat onto the couch before disappearing in a flurry of blue mist.

"And that's why I don't like summoning them when you don't need them," Minato muttered.

"That was… something," Akihiko said slowly.

"Something I don't really want to deal with again," Minato sighed. "Good thing using spells is free."

…

"I neglected to say, but you can summon in the real world as well?" Mitsuru asked.

"Yeah, you can," Hamuko nodded. "But it takes a lot more work because there isn't as much spiritual energy," she sighed.

"Wanna see?" Hamuko suggested.

"Um," Yukari hesitated, however she sighed. "I guess it wouldn't hurt."

"Alright then!" Hamuko cheered as a card drifted on top of her pointer finger. "Pixie!" she called.

The card dispelled into glass shards before a fairy clad in navy blue appeared on her shoulder. "This is Pixie," Hamuko said. "I have more, but she's my favourite to summon."

"Why? She seems so small and weaker compared to our ones," Yukari said.

"Because, she could destroy hundreds of Shadows with just a snap of her fingers," Hamuko laughed. "She's actually one of my most powerful Personae. She's been with me since about the time I started summoning at all."

"Oh," Yukari said with eyes widened.

Pixie felt a surge of power…

…

"In any case that one is actually one I use a lot in battle, though Jack Frost… he can be annoying," Minato explained. "As you saw. Anyways, imma go to bed. I think Hamuko might stay up to help ya guys summon in the Dark Hour, but I ain't sticking around for that."

"Are you sure?" Akihiko asked.

"Yeah. Besides, Hamuko'll probably do a better job teaching than I would," Minato shrugged as he made his way up to his room.

"Dude's got an inferiority complex," Junpei sighed.

"Do you even know what that is?" Akihiko deadpanned at him.

"Um…"

"Well that answers that," Akihiko muttered. "Though I think it's actually kinda true. He never seems to think he's better at anything than his sister."

"Waaait, so I was right?" Junpei exclaimed.

Akihiko facepalmed. "Do you know what it means now?"

"Uh yeah, I guess," Junpei grinned sheepishly.

"It is an unrealistic feeling of general inadequacy caused by actual or supposed inferiority in one sphere, sometimes marked by aggressive behaviour in compensation," Akihiko said, starting to sound much smarter than he normally would've been.

"That just confused me even more!" Junpei cried.

Odin and Jack Frost stirred…

* * *

**AN: The song title used in this chapter does not fit it and neither do the lyrics. Anyways, plz box me yo thoughts and imma see ya guys later.**

**PS: Yes, I did use a web definition for Akihiko's explanation.**

**Nights: Hm, that's good.**  
**Yeah, because he can be very awkward. And indeedly so.**  
**Haha, well hope you like this chapter then.**  
**Will do.**

**Raidou: Well… I don't share the same sentiments, but okay? Well, I try. Will do.**

**Kronos: Yeah, belated new years from here.**  
**And indeed.**

**Yoshikunitsu: Yeah, it's true. But for now I'm just going to try to lay off my OTP however much it hurts. **  
**Aha, really? I just thought that it would be cool to have the Personae react instead of having a booming voice crack some windows before tearing out your eardrums. And it's a bit important for later too.**  
**Well whatever happens, happens.**  
**Sure wouldn't for the world.**


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